Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise
 | By Ruth Reichl Penguin Press HC, The, 2005, Hardcover Customer Rating: 131 reviews Recommend This product is currently not available and cannot be purchased. It means that we have no merchant offers for this product at the moment or it was discontinued by the manufacturer. |
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Ruth Reichl, world-renowned food critic and editor in chief of Gourmet magazine, knows a thing or two about food. She also knows that as the most important food critic in the country, you need to be anonymous when reviewing some of the most high-profile establishments in the biggest restaurant town in the world—a charge she took very seriously, taking on the guise of a series of eccentric personalities. In Garlic and Sapphires, Reichl reveals the comic absurdity, artifice, and excellence to be found in the sumptuously appointed stages of the epicurean world and gives us—along with some of her favorite recipes and reviews—her remarkable reflections on how one’s outer appearance can influence one’s inner character, expectations, and appetites, not to mention the quality of service one receives.
Fans of Tender at the Bone and Comfort Me with Apples know that Ruth Reichl is a wonderful memoirist — a funny, poignant, and candid storyteller whose books contain a happy mix of memories, recipes, and personal revelations.
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We chewed the fat with Ruth. Read our interview. More from Ruth Reichl
 Tender at the Bone |  Comfort Me with Apples |  The Gourmet Cookbook |
 Remembrance of Things Paris |  Endless Feasts |  Gourmet magazine |
Amazon.com's The Significant Seven
Ruth Reichl answers the seven questions we ask every author.
Q: What book has had the most significant impact on your life?
A: Kate Simon’s New York Places and Pleasures. I read it as a little girl and then went out and wandered the city. She was a wonderful writer, and she taught me not only to see New York in a whole new way, but to look, and taste, beneath the surface.
Q: You are stranded on a desert island with only one book, one CD, and one DVD — what are they?
A: Ulysses by James Joyce. What better place to finally get through it?
Keith Jarrett's The Köln Concert. If you’re going to listen to one piece over and over, this is one that doesn’t get tiresome.
How to Build a Boat in Five Easy Steps. Since I’m going to be watching one movie over and over, it might as well be useful.
Q: What is the worst lie you've ever told?
A: I’m such a good liar, I wouldn’t know where to begin.
Q: Describe the perfect writing environment.
A: I can write pretty much anywhere. But I prefer small, cozy spaces, with a good view over a lake or a forest, and room for the cats to curl up.
Q: If you could write your own epitaph, what would it say?
A: "She’ll be right back."
Q: Who is the one person living or dead that you would like to have dinner with?
A: Elizabeth I. She fascinates me. She had a great mind, enormous appetites — and she was a survivor. The most interesting woman of an interesting time, and I have a million questions I’d like to ask her.
Q: If you could have one superpower, what would it be?
A: You mean after creating world peace? This is a hard one. But I’ve always wanted to be able to fly.
Title: Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise
Sales Rank: 148385 in Books
Author: Ruth Reichl
Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The, 2005-04-07, Hardcover, 352 pages
Package Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.5 inches, 1.05 pounds
- Yum!
- Ruth Reichl is excellent at writing about food. She really captures tastes in poetic language. More reviews
- I loved this book!
- I read this book for our book club and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was meant to be somewhat lighter than some things we'd been reading lately and it was that; but it was also enlightening about ourselves and how we treat others. The recipes are wonderful! I've highlighted the recipe index so I can turn right to them! More reviews
- Audio CD review: overly dramatic narrative grates on the nerves
- I was very disappointed in this audio CD book. First of all, something about this book seems very self-indulgent. For example, CD1 goes on endlessly about how the author doesn't really want this top job, but of course, she interviews and ends up with it. It seems very disingenous. Second, stories from a job of eating out at mostly very fancy… More reviews
- Entertaining and delicious
- I loved this engaging memoir by the New York Times food critic. I particularly enjoy Reichl's egalitarian view of fine dining (everyone should have the same great experience, famous or not). As a lover of good food and fine dining, I found this to be a very entertaining read. More reviews
- This is nonfiction that is fun, entertaining, educational and enlightening. It shows people judging a book by its cover.
- During the 1990s, Ruth Reichel was the restaurant critic for the New York Times. When she began the job, she realized that a majority of the restaurants she would be reviewing knew what she looked like and were on the lookout for her. Therefore, she created a number of disguises for herself using clothing, wigs, and… More reviews
