Alice Waters' Cookbook Favorites

Someone recently slipped me a card they got at an event where Alice Waters spoke with a list of her favorite cookbooks. It was both surprising and refreshing to see that I don't have a single one of these.

• Simple French Food (Richard Olney)
• Cuisines of Mexico (Diana Kennedy)
• Couscous and Other Good Food from Morocco (Paula Wolfort)
• French Country Cooking (Elizabeth David)
• The Taste of Country Cooking (Edna Lewis)

Comments (7)

great list (of course)

I have the Diana Kennedy
and took it along to Mexico for a month!
It was wildly instructive
before and after any trip to the mercado

Paula Wolfort is one of those long range projects --
someday I'll get to read her work . . .

Edna Lewis - LOVE her, but only through the more recent collaborative book with Scott Peacock.
Anyone compare the two?

dare I admit, French cooking is not my thing
so those other two . . .

posted by guido on 2006-07-28 12:45:13

I have one of Edna Lewis' early books and I love it. I don't cook out of it all the time, but it has a lot of narrative about her rural southern childhood that I really like, and the things I have made out of it (most preserves and things using game) have been great. I've thought about buying the book she and Mr. Peacock wrote, but I haven't compared them.

French cooking is not my thing either, but Richard Olney wrote some really great books. My mum gave me " Lulu's Provencal Table" and I use it much more frequently then I expected. It's not what I think of when I think of "French" cooking. Lots of herbs and garlic and vegetables, hardly any reduced sauces. And a new herb palette to play with. I planted two kinds of savory after reading through the book. You can see what an enormous influence she had on a generation of influential in turn west coast food writers.

regards,
trillium

posted by trillium on 2006-07-28 13:27:39

i already dig the Kennedy also (i wish i could claim it had accompanied me on mexican travels, as well, o manyfacedted guido!) but the rest have just moved onto my amazon wishlist. huzzah

posted by lisa on 2006-07-28 13:58:24

My favorite cookbooks are Laurie Colwin's Home Cooking and More Home Cooking: A Writer Returns to the Kitchen. Colwin swore by the Elizabeth David cookbook on Waters' list.

posted by truth on 2006-07-28 23:20:59

I love finding a whole host of fresh cookbooks that I have never so much as perused at the bookstore. Thanks for letting me know the details of this group, I'll start investigating immediately!

posted by risingsunofnihon on 2006-07-29 12:30:02

i love the laurie colwin books too. so comforting to read on a rainy day. also, her first nyc kitchen was smaller than mine, and she still cooked.

posted by jules on 2006-07-30 02:50:03

Wolfert.

Whew. Glad to get that off my chest.

posted by picky on 2006-07-30 17:36:37