Deborah Madison

Summary: Deborah Madison is a cookbook author, and - along with her partner, artist Patrick McFarlin - they began interviewing their friends, neighbors, acquaintances, and strangers on the title question: what do people eat when they're by themselves? They've taken the answers and organized them into sections - on patterns in men vs. women's answers, uniquely bizarre personal snacks, those who eat alone every day, etc. (And, bizarrely, a chapter on meals to make when you're trying to seduce show more someone into sleeping with you so you no longer have to eat alone.) They've also taken several of the foods that were described to them in each chapter, and turned them into actual recipes... all the time stressing that when you eat alone, you only have yourself to please.

Review: I read this book because I absolutely loved Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant, and I was looking for more of the same. And, while this book is on almost the exact same topic, it manages to come at it from a very different angle. While Alone in the Kitchen... was a collection of essays, some of them with a recipe, this read more like a cookbook with very extended (and moderately repetitive) introductions to each chapter. Not as interesting or fulfilling a reading experience, but probably more practical.

Although really... not even all *that* practical. The problem is that this was written by a) a primarily vegetarian b) cookbook author, who c) lives in New Mexico. Hence, she makes a lot of assumptions about how, why, and what her audience cooks that isn't going to be true for a large chunk of the readership. For example, Madison generally disdains frozen vegetables as inferior, without acknowledging that in most of the country, people just can't pop by the farmer's market to pick out organic fresh vegetables in February. Similarly, as most of her friends that get interviewed are fellow foodies, it's just taken as read that at any given time, a reader will have three kinds of fancy-pants cheese, artisanal bread, heirloom tomatoes, shrimp, ripe avocados, and fresh herbs on hand.

There's also a latent sexism present here that set my teeth on edge. There's a tone to a lot of the chapters where it's assumed that whenever women are cooking for one, it's because we've finally gotten a break from striving to please our husbands and families, but for men, eating alone is a valid lifestyle choice. (Including the use of the word "batcheloring" - or even more obnoxiously, "batching" - to refer to eating alone. Blech.) Overall, I wound up skimming a lot of the narrative, but it did give me some new dinner ideas, and it inspired me to be a little bit more adventurous with some of my cooking - after all, if something comes out horribly, no one will know... and that's why I keep a bag of tater tots in the freezer. 3 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: For people who like cookbooks, this would be an interesting browse, but I'd recommend getting it from the library - I don't know that the recipes are enough to make it worth owning when there are so many dedicated quick-and-easy one-person cookbooks out there. For people who are looking for good food writing on the subject of solitary dining, however... I'd recommend Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant, instead. show less

Really enjoyable memoir. I had no idea who Deborah Madison is, but I love hearing about the different ways that chefs become chefs and that foodies are drawn into their lifestyle. This book was particularly interesting because of Madison's pivotal and yet cranky relationship with vegetarianism. I love her message -- that vegetables are for everyone -- and that often the most memorable food isn't about the food, it's about the kindness of the person who prepared it. It's an episodic work, and show more somewhat non-linear, but I enjoyed that as well.

Advanced reader's copy provided by edelweiss. show less

This is a book you get for the stories at least as much as for the recipes, good as they may sometimes be.

The elation mixed with fear of moving out and being able to eat what you want - if you first cook it yourself. The relief of an occasional single meal with hardworking family men/women. And of course, the systematic single meals of the single, divorced or widowed. Sometimes inspiring, sometimes awful, sometimes just plain weird. It'll make you remember those weird concoctions you used show more to consume yourself - I suddenly wanted to make my "penne with purple sauce" again.

And there are recipes in there too. Sometimes little more than ideas, sometimes quite elaborate, always easy, usually tasty. And it will explain some basics as well.

All in all, a lovely book that I keep browsing in. show less

With numerous cookbooks, I'm very fussy about ones that I now buy. This one I can recommend wholeheartedly because it really assumes interest and intelligence on the part of the reader. I thought it was great - not very many recipes but rather she discusses vegetables (including grains and beans, by the way) in the context of their genetic families. She emphasizes that the relationships mean that not only can they often be substituted for each other but that the same compatible flavors that show more work with one member of the family will probably work with the others. In other words, she encourages experimental cooking on a rational scientific bases. One of the few cookbooks I actually have read cover to cover in the living room. show less