Southern Accent: A Second Helping
Author: Junior League of Pine Bluff staff
From comfort foods to gourmet meals, Southern Accent: A Second Helping dishes up what you are hungry for. Join in a guided tour through the rich history of Pine Bluff, while you sample the very best to offer from original Southern cuisine.
Interesting book: Prise du Saut :la Construction d'une Carrière comme un Artiste Visuel
History in a Glass: Sixty Years of Wine Writing from Gourmet
Author: Ruth Reichl
When Gourmet magazine debuted in the 1940s, America’s wineries were still reeling from the lingering effects of Prohibition and the loss of wines from war-torn Europe. But for every closed door, there was an open bottle: The bleak postwar years were actually a prelude to today’s unprecedented and widespread appreciation for the grape. New York Times bestselling author Ruth Reichl reread sixty-five years of wine articles in Gourmet to select the best for History in a Glass. The result is a rollicking tale of great meals, great walks, and wonderful drinks as Americans discover the pleasures of wine.
These marvelous essays were written by men and women who were not only on hand to witness wine’s boom but, in many cases, helped to foster the environment that made it thrive. The early days after World War II provided a great opportunity for James Beard and Frank Schoonmaker to reacquaint oenophiles with the joys of European wines. Through tireless dispatches from the Continent, they inspired American vintners to produce world-class wines on their own rich soil.
In subsequent pieces, an impressive, surprisingly diverse roster of writers revel in the sensual and emotional pleasures of wine: the legendary Gerald Asher reflects on the many faces of Chianti; Hillaire Belloc dispenses bits of wisdom by the glass to his niece on her wedding day; the science fiction titan Ray Bradbury rhapsodizes about the earthy pleasures of dandelion wine; Kate Colman explores the moral quandary surrounding a friend’s unintentionally generous gift of a rare Bordeaux; Hugh Johnson reports on Hungarian varieties during the height of Cold War tensions in the early 1970s; evenGourmet’s current spirits editor, James Rodewald, reminisces on the first time he fell in love–with a bottle of Pinot Noir.
With an Introduction by Ruth Reichl, and covering more than six decades of epicurean delights, History in a Glass is an astonishing celebration of all things good and grape.
Publishers Weekly
Gourmet's editor-in-chief peers into the archives for an intriguing perspective on wine-making history since the magazine's 1941 founding. Reichl culls from a cornucopia of famous food writers-Gerald Asher, James Beard, Frank Schoonmaker-and bares an unabashed boosterism for American wines. As Schoonmaker notes in a series of shimmering early pieces, American vintners had a grand opportunity for growth during the war years, with eminent French chateaux under German control, and yet American viticulture was still reeling from the abuses of Prohibition. Moreover, American vintners resisted using indigenous grape varieties, ignoring "the greatest natural grape-growing area on the earth's surface." With time, the second "American Revolution" was achieved, as Hugh Johnson and Frederick S. Wildman Jr. note enthusiastically in articles from the 1960s and '70s. Meanwhile, Gourmet's bon vivants traveled from France's Bordeaux, Burgundy, C te d'Or and Rh ne regions to Germany's Rhineland, Hungary's elusive Tokay and Spain's Sherry capital, Jerez de la Frontera. Hugh Johnson's supercilious essay "The Wines of Italy" (1972) asks sneeringly, "What great wines, if any, are there in Italy?" thus demonstrating the occasional datedness of the pieces. Wines of Chile, Australia and New Mexico have also inspired these literary oenophiles, happily so. (On sale Mar. 7) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
This sampling of columns from the past 60 years in Gourmet magazine touches on many aspects of wine and winemaking. Arranged by topic rather than chronologically, the signed and dated columns are not particularly in-depth but offer enjoyable eyewitness snapshots from a particular time and place. Their authors range from Gourmet's own columnists to notables like Ray Bradbury and James Beard. The first chapter focuses on the devastating impact of Prohibition on American winemaking and its struggles to recover in the late 1930s. Subsequent chapters cover everything from winemaking around the world to the impact of California wines. Editor Reichl (Tender at the Bone), who is currently editor in chief of Gourmet, contributes an introduction (which was not included in the proofs). Public libraries with strong wine history collections should consider adding this book; for all others it is an optional purchase.-Andrea R. Dietze, Orange Cty. P.L., Santa Ana, CA Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
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