Save Me the Plums by Ruth Reichl [Book Review] 1
Summary
“When Condé Nast offered Ruth Reichl the top position at America’s oldest epicurean magazine, she declined. She was a writer, not a manager, and had no inclination to be anyone’s boss. Yet Reichl had been reading Gourmet since she was eight; it had inspired her career. How could she say no?
This is the story of a former Berkeley hippie entering the corporate world and worrying about losing her soul. It is the story of the moment restaurants became an important part of popular culture, a time when the rise of the farm-to-table movement changed, forever, the way we eat. Readers will meet legendary chefs like David Chang and Eric Ripert, idiosyncratic writers like David Foster Wallace, and a colorful group of editors and art directors who, under Reichl’s leadership, transformed stately Gourmet into a cutting-edge publication. This was the golden age of print media—the last spendthrift gasp before the Internet turned the magazine world upside down.
Complete with recipes, Save Me the Plums is a personal journey of a woman coming to terms with being in charge and making a mark, following a passion and holding on to her dreams—even when she ends up in a place she never expected to be.”
– From Amazon.com
Review
I’ve begun to totally fall in love with books that are about food. Any kind of book about food I’m now drawn to thanks to the book group I’m in reading a book by Anthony Bourdain, Kitchen Confidential. Food, and good home cooked food, has always been very important to me, and reading about the importance to others and their journeys is truly a joy.
Food & Career Journey
This book wasn’t just about food but also was about Ruth Reichl and her career journey of a woman who really didn’t know anything about being an editor, but wanting to make a difference to a magazine that she once loved. I found it comforting as a younger professional to read about someone well into their career feeling so lost and almost having to start again. But reading about Ruth pushing through a very cut throat kind of world, while managing to keep up with her family the best she could, was inspiring to say the least. It was tiring just reading about all the work she had to do!
A Journey of Food Expression
Reading about Ruth’s journey with Gourmet and how they transformed the presentation of food, as well as combatted the creation of the internet and dancing around how they could utilize it. I sometimes forget how new the internet is and reading about these companies who had to suddenly find a way to present their medium in a new way, and a way that would get eyeballs and was worth the money, was kind of interesting to see tackled. Finding ways to balance what publication released what, what articles were posted where, and how it was presented was such a unique insight.
I personally found it interesting to read about the cover of Gourmet and how important the cover of a magazine is. As a consumer I get drawn to certain covers and since I don’t necessarily follow or read a certain magazine religiously, I don’t read too much into what is on a cover. So reading about Ruth’s experiences of the feedback she got on the magazine, like Gourmet’s edition that had cake on the cover, was something I had never even thought about!
A Rich Read with Recipes and Stories of Importance
One “unique” part of the book was the fact that there were recipes in there! You were able to read about various meals and Ruth’s experience with them and then you got to get the recipe to be able to attempt to make it yourself. There were only a handful of recipes written out but they were the ones that were the most important to the story and had an impact on Ruth’s life in some way, or at least that was how it was presented.
I find recipes, or certain meals, have certain important to people or are intrinsically related to certain events. Save Me the Plums definitely pulled out a few that were important to both her story and the story of Gourmet.
Food as a Unifier – Especially after 9/11
The mention of 9/11 took up a section of this book and the horror of that day and the days that followed. It moved me to tears reading about how the food community pulled together after the tragedy and, while they were all hurting, began to cook food to serve to the rescue workers. Reading about Ruth’s experiences going down to the site to deliver the food, seeing how many other restaurants and cooks delivered, and the appreciation people had for something as simple as chili really was impactful.
It made you remember and realize how important food is to people. Food is memories and comfort. Food unifies people and people have been breaking bread to resolve conflict or make connections for millennia.
Save Me the Plums accurately conveyed the importance that food has to people and how personal food is. Food, and a good meal in general, doesn’t need to be super fancy. Something as simple as a piece of chocolate cake, or a bowl of chili, is all you need.
Absolutely a 5/5 teacup read!
Happy Reading!
