Reflexions

by Richard Olney

This book begins in New York in 1951 where Olney, a struggling artist, waited tables in Greenwich Village, then moves to Paris and weaves a magical description of food that becomes so real—as if you were actually there with Olney. It is a long-awaited story of the man who brought the simplicity of French cooking to the United States, and a statement about one of the finest and most important food professionals in the world.

Genres: Food, Biography

416 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Richard Olney was an American painter, cook, food writer, editor, and memoirist, best known for known for his books of French country cooking.

Olney lived in a house above the village of Solliès-Toucas in Provence, France, for most of his adult life, where he wrote many classic and influential cookbooks of French country cooking. He had first moved to France in 1951, to Paris, where he was close friends with (and painted many of) the American and English bohemian expatriate set, including James Baldwin, filmmaker Kenneth Anger, painter John Craxton, poet John Ashbery, and composer Ned Rorem.

He was also friends with Elizabeth David.

Reviews

[Andrew Schirmer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Exhausting. One could only hope for the cash, and more importantly, the stamina to live as Olney did. One grand repas after the other. After reading "Reflexions", one begins to feel that to begin a meal with anything less than Krug would be out of the question. Delightfully bitchy in places--Julia Child and M.F.K. Fisher are taken down a notch or two. No one knew French cooking like Olney, his books should be sought out by anybody with even a passing interest in cuisine, French or otherwise. The somewhat tedious compilation of these posthumous memoirs will alienate the general reader, while the specialist will find much to delight in. Another reviewer has likened it to a diary--I think it closer to an opera by Handel--sumptuous little arias nestled between overlong yet essential recitatives. Vive Richard Olney!

[R.J. Gilmour · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book more than I actually did. It is a difficult read. Olney really needed a ghost writer and editor to turn the endless lists of fascinating people and names into a more interesting narrative. It is just too self indulgent and narcissistic for anyone outside of his world to enjoy.

[Susanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Casts light on the politics of the world of food. Tedious read but interesting nonetheless.

[Jeff Seroy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Basically a diary but pretty fantastic and enjoyable - many great chracters, and cameo appearances by the Childs, James Beard, Sybil Bedford, James Baldwin, Alice Waters. An enviable life....