Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton

Blood, Bones & Butter is a blend of a memoir and a food book, the author who is also the chef/owner of Prune in New York City, illustrates assorted phases of her life with stories about particular meals, starting with the annual lamb roast her parents had when she was a child. She is taught by her French mother an admiration for fresh, local ingredients and contempt for misuse. From her father she gets the pleasure of sharing food with friends and family. Her parent’s busy life and subsequent desertion leads to her first job working with food. As the story unfolds her autonomous diligent personality becomes more apparent. Gabrielle Hamilton is a study in incongruity. She's a lesbian married to a man who in her thirties hates her mother with the immaturity of a teenager, a female chef who has no tolerance for women who bellyache about being female in a man's world, and a woman who breastfeeds her two boys for a year each while working grueling hours at her restaurant.

I loved the author's flippant approach, her openness, and sincerity about herself, the cooking business, and Italy. At times it seemed shallow but it merely reflected the author's cautious, strong nature.

5 Stars