Food for Thought: Essays and Ruminations

The same brand of humor that made Alton Brown’s Good Eats cooking show entertaining to watch is what makes these essays entertaining to read, but I don't think you'd need to know a thing about him or his show in order to enjoy his book. He's funny, profound, and very quotable. Here are two of my favorite quotes from the book:

The magic of how simple ingredients can, when deftly combined, become more than the sum of their parts, constantly amazes me.

Cooking should be a living thing, an action, yes, but also a reflection of life and its constant dance of deliciously mysterious variables.

In Food for Thought, television host and food educator Alton Brown offers more than three dozen short essays, all told in the erudite and acerbic manner that viewers have come to expect from his work on such shows as Good Eats, Cutthroat Kitchen, and Iron Chef America. The pieces can be loosely collected into various categories, including memoir (e.g., meals that informed his career development, cooking for family and friends, his television work, growing up as an overweight child), instructional (e.g., how he cooks chicken and turkey, how he mixes his daily martinis, how to follow recipe instructions), rants (e.g., Martha Stewart’s divisive cult of perfectionism, his aversion to “elevated” dishes, his aversion to multi-use show more kitchen tools), those somewhat related to the food industry (e.g., five questions he is often asked, famous food scenes in movies, the role that food plays in our lives), and those totally unrelated to the food industry (e.g., what it means to be a teacher, DNA testing to establish ancestry, fashion versus style when dressing oneself). There was no obvious connection to how these essays were ordered in the book, so they are best read as a series of one-off ruminations on whatever happened to be on the author’s mind at the time.

I have always enjoyed Brown’s appearances on the myriad shows he has hosted, as well as the times I have seen him speak at some of his personal appearances. I find his takes on food science and the production of high-quality meals to be enlightening and quite engaging. That said, the group of articles in this volume were of a far more uneven quality than his on-screen work; the skill set that makes him so effective on television did not always translate to the page. While some of these essays were strong and moving—particular standouts include his reflections on cooking biscuits as a way of connecting with his grandmother, the common threads that food provides to everyone, and his development as a show host—many others were largely forgettable. As this was not an actual memoir, I found most of the author’s reminiscences about vignettes from his past (e.g., trying to win over a date with his cooking prowess, feeding laxative-laced s’mores to his aunt) to be indulgences that distracted from what could have been a more substantial message. Further, I was confused, but not entertained, by the two “screenplays” included in the book, which came across as a little more mean-spirited than likely was intended. So, while I am satisfied with having read Food for Thought, it is a book that I could only recommend to someone who was already an Alton Brown fan. show less

A well spiced production by the "Good Eats" mastermind.
In "Food for Thought: Essays and Ruminations" author Alton Brown, of outstanding culinary fame, produced a book of essays, thoughts, outtakes and ideas.
This is not a tell all, but Brown does not hold back his thoughts on the wide variety of topics in this easy to read well thought out book.
Riffing on the biographical stories, culinary film history, his personal style, defining the meals that made him the person he is
He does not hold back stories to save face, he is proud of the (mostly professional) failures that shaped and defined him.
The prose that Mr. Brown writes with is very readable. He is quite loquacious and has a large vocabulary that he likes to engage, but that is used show more as nothing more than to spice up the sentences and essays that he is wrapping you up in.
I would recommend this to any one who is interested in cooking, is familiar with the TV "star", like humorous, opinionated writing, or just likes good, quick read. An easy four star! show less

I used to watch Good Eats I feel like almost twenty years ago but not regularly, so I wasn't sure what to expect here as I mostly remember Brown digging into the science of random food stuffs. But this was genuinely hilarious and covered all sorts of topics, and I appreciated that it was a memoir but truly broken down into experiences all around food.

Thoroughly enjoyable. Brown mixes his thoughts on how he ended up where he did, love of martinis, relationships, TV and what food should be vs. what it is sometimes thought to be.

What a funny and wonderful audiobook from beginning to end. Loved listening to him talk about... of course ... food, and other things.

For the rest of my review, visit my Vlog at:

https://youtube.com/shorts/r9xq0dFz7k8?feature=share

Enjoy!

nan