Reflexions

by Richard Olney

•“The best is the best and we must take it on the rare occasions that we find it.” –Jim Harrison, Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant News•“Delicious Reading” -Patrick Kuh, San Francisco Chronicle•“Funny” –Gourmet Magazine•“Awe-Inspiring” -Tara Q. Thomas, Wine & Spirits•“… downright brilliant..” –Mark Bittman, New York Times Book Review•“Mr. Olney’s influence in the culinary profession was profound.…” -R.W. Apple Jr., New York Times•“...an unparalleled view of French food and wine.” -William Rice, Chicago Tribune•“Richard Olney, one of the most influential cookbook writers of his generation....” -Russ Parsons, Los Angeles Times•“Olney was well ahead of his time. He was without doubt, one of the most influential of modern writers about food. He has a very strong claim to be considered the best.” -Times, London•“Richard Olney’s writings may come to share the position bestowed upon A. Escoffier’s 1903 Guide Culinaire as the international authoritative culinary text of the 20th century. A pair well-matched, Escoffier preached “Faites simple” and devoted his career to eradicating the excessive culinary follies invented by his predecessors.” -Nora Carey, Independent, London•“Although he was an American, Richard Olney...was one of the foremost writers on French food and wine.... He was admired and respected by the French gastronomic community....” -Jill Norman, Guardian, Manchester•“He was not as famous as Julia Child...but he was in many ways just as influential...the expatriot theorist who revolutionized the way the best American chefs think about food.” -Donald Kaul, Des Moines RegisterThe 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 “My first meal in Paris was in a glum little dining room for boarders, in the Hôtel de l’Académie, at the corner of rue de l’Université and the rue des Saints-Pères. The plat du jour was ‘gibelotte, pommes mousseline’- rabbit and white wine fricassee with mashed potatoes. The gibelotte was all right, the mashed potatoes the best I had ever eaten, pushed through a sieve, buttered and moistened with enough of their hot cooking water to bring them to a supple, not quite pourable consistency­–no milk, no cream, no beating. I had never dreamt of mashing potatoes without milk and, in Iowa, everyone believed that, the more you beat them, the better they were.” This book 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. Richard Olney, one of the first food writers to introduce the simple joys of French cooking to American readers was an American who lived in Europe for almost 50 years. He died unexpectedly July 31, 1999. Author of more than 35 titles and inspiration to hundreds more his works include French Menu Cookbook, the seminal Simple French Food, The Good Cook, Yquem, Ten Vineyard Lunches, Romanée-Conti, Provence the Beautiful, Lulu’s Provençal Table, Good Cook’s Encyclopedia, and French Wine and Food. A resident of Solliès-Toucas, France, Olney was close to his art and family and friends.

Genres: Food, Biography

416 pages, Kindle Edition

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....