Let Us Eat Cake: Adventures in Food and Friendship

by Sharon Boorstin

Every woman has poignant food the times she licked the bowl when her mother baked a cake, or helped her grandmother make blintzes, tortillas, or Southern fried chicken. And how about the times she and her girlfriends baked chocolate-chip cookies or, later, prepared elaborate dinners to impress potential husbands? One day when looking through an old desk she'd bought as a newlywed thirty years earlier, food writer and restaurant critic Sharon Boorstin discovered a notebook of recipes she'd collected from her mother, relatives, and girlfriends at the time. It inspired her to reconnect with the recipe givers -- some of whom she hadn't seen in years -- and to explore the power of cooking and food in establishing bonds among women. Let Us Eat Cake celebrates these connections. As a young girl, Boorstin helped her mother make tuna casseroles; on a college trip to Europe, she and her girlfriends compared men and restaurants with equal zest; after she became a food writer, Boorstin bonded with women in the food world including Barbara Lazaroff (Mrs. Wolfgang) Puck, the Too Hot Tamales, and Julia Child. Today, after decades of enjoying food and cooking together, Boorstin and the women in her life have come to understand what truly makes for female friendships. With dozens of delicious recipes and vintage photos, this moving book will inspire readers to remember and cherish their own experiences with food, family, and friends.

Genres: Food, Nonfiction, Memoir, Cooking, Biography Memoir

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Jenny · Rating 2 out of 5]

The only reason I finished this book and was able to grant it a two-star review is because it is my book club's March selection. I found Boorstin self-interested with little interesting to say. The book lacks a central purpose, so the chapters just become descriptions of her cooking with or eating with friends with recipes tossed in along the way. How on earth this was published is beyond me. Don't waste you time!

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Premise: Author found a notebook in a desk with recipes from friends and family she collected as a newlywed many years ago. It made her realize how many women friends she had lost touch with due to her focus on husband, career and children. In order to write an article for Move magazine (which turned into this book) she needed/wanted to reach out to these women.

She described what it was like growing up in the 50's and 60's. Finding a husband was important at that time and a great way to catch one was to be a good cook. She described her mom's cooking, other relatives as well as friend's mothers. Some were great, some were good and some had no time for it.

Before reconnecting with these people in her past she was a food critic. Her descriptions of the restaurants she visited, the chef's she got to know and the food she ate were wonderful. I did worry she was going to be a blowhard when it came to describing her famous and extremely successful friends. She either doesn't associate with average people or only wrote about the successful ones.

There are a few recipes I want to try. Some recipes had such long steps they were skipped. I don't know why the chicken liver recipe sounds so appealing.

If the author has this many great women friends, she truly is blessed.

[Ginny · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought about quitting this one multiple times, but kept reading because it was a book club pick, so you get to read my complaints.

* The author’s descriptions of her friends largely centered around their weight and whether they dieted in a way that may be generational, but certainly hasn’t aged well.
* Similarly, so much of the book talked about cooking to please/catch men, etc. which was both eye-roll inducing and ran counter to the food-brings-women-closer-as-friends thesis.
* The interspersed photos were nice, but few of the recipes looked tasty enough to try.

Part of me wonders if I came into this biased because I’ve been reading (and enjoying) Ruth Reichl so much (she’a actually mentioned briefly). And the fact is, those are much more enjoyable food memoirs, so go check them out.

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was recommended for book clubs by my state library and, though interesting in parts, this could have been condensed down to less than 100 pages, including the recipes. While not my cup of tea, the themes of the book offered great conversation to my book club though most of us never finished the book.

[Britt Fechtman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. I read it with a book club. I really enjoyed some of the earlier chapters where she talked about growing up in the 50s and some of the family dynamics and gender dynamics that she experienced in the home. I was less enthused with some of the later chapters, but overall I found it to be an enjoyable read.

[Yvonne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for book club and each member brought one of the recipes. Not much discussion on the book but the food was delicious!

[Caitlin Henley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining - enjoyed the recipes and backstories.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great combination of memoir and cookbook! Chronicles the author's culinary adventures from Mom's home-cooking in the 1950's to her own delicious recipes of the present day. Fascinating first hand accounts of life in Berkeley and LA in the sixties, and a great account of the role of food in family life.

[Kerith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I went into this expecting to read about food, but also got a well-written memoir on friendship between women. The author discovered an old recipe journal and started to muse upon the links between her friends and the food they ate/cooked together. It was a surprisingly engaging tale of a life. Warning, though, like any good foodie book, it will make you hungry.

[Joelle Stearns · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book quite a lot. It is written by a woman who recounts the emotional relationships that she and other women have with food over the course of their lives. She talks about how food is such a significant piece of good memories and how those memories and recipes link us to one another. Heartfelt and kind, this book left me feeling warm and fuzzy. Many good recipes as well.

[Diane Bell · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was interested at the beginning, not so much by the end, and it's a long book. There is no central story line, it mostly just wanders through the author's life and experiences with food. There are too many random people inserted into it, and I didn't find even the author's story all that interesting. (I obviously read this for book club.) It was just ok.

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book didn't pique my interest like I thought it would. My attitude about this memoir is "who cares?" Even the recipes didn't sound that appetizing to me. Too many little details about other people, not enough interesting stories about the author herself.

[Dnicebear · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy the mix of relationships and food stories arranged mostly sequentially. This is an interesting way to write a memoir, and I feel connected to these people. I'm sorry there is very little direct connection with the earth, but that is the way many of us live these days.

[Teri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I fondly remember purchasing this book from a used book store in NYC in 2002, read it and loved it - made many of the recipes in it too! Moonshadow Chicken still one of my favorites. Recently re-read in 2010 and it did not resonate like it did in 2002... still a nostalgic read though!

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's just not worth reading someone's memoir when you aren't enticed by the person.

[gigi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, foodie book!

[The Hofs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun and enjoyable. if you liked Backyard Heathens and Tender at the Bone, you will enjoy this memoir of food and friendship. Great beach read.

[Claire · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh, I did not care for this book at all. I didn't even care for the recipes.

[Sally Jackson · Rating 2 out of 5]

meh

[Jessica]

It has recipes in it!

[Carla]

Kind of light reading but I enjoyed it. She must be about the same age as me. I may even go back and see if there’s a recipe I can make. I had never heard of her before I read the book but she was a food critic.