Memories of Romance, Restaurants, and Cornbread

Literary food writing is once again alive and well. When publishers realized foodies were buying cookbooks for bedtime reading as much as for actual cooking, it must have occurred to them that culinary nonfiction seasoned with a few recipes would be much cheaper to produce. The culinary memoir market has exploded with each new writer being touted as the literary heir to the legendary M.F.K. Fisher. While only Colette Rossant comes close to Mrs. Fisher's writing prowess in my opinion, these four books released in the past six months made very enjoyable reading. -- Virginia B. Wood

Missouri-born novelist Jeremy Jackson is on a mission. He wants cornbread declared the official bread of the United States, and he makes a strong case for it in this witty little love story. Cornbread in all its permutations is the object of Jackson's affections, and he offers history, family anecdotes, and 40 inviting recipes to make his case for cornbread canonization. The Cornbread Book: A Love Story With Recipes (HarperCollins, $14.95, paper) is a delightful, easy read with recipes that are likely to send cornbread lovers racing to the kitchen. Dishes such as Velvet Spoonbread (a rustic American soufflé), Buttermilk Cornbread (always made without sugar at my house), Zaletti (crumbly Italian polenta cookies), Indian Pudding (a classic early-American dish), and the unique Popcorn White Loaf (a wonderful, nutty yeast bread made with popcorn flour) make this slim volume a necessary addition to any corn lover's recipe collection... In much the same way chef Anthony Bourdain exposed the seamy underbelly of restaurant kitchens in Kitchen Confidential, young Connecticut restaurateur Courtney Febbroriello uses her personal story to reveal the day-to-day operations at the front of the house of a chef-owned restaurant in Wife of the Chef: The True Story of a Restaurant and a Romance (Clarkson N. Potter, $24). While her style is not nearly as raunchy as Bourdain's, Febbroriello's tale is every bit as true and engaging in its own way. The author and her chef husband, Chris Prosperi, are the owners of Metro Bis and Metro Express in Simsbury, Conn. In Wife of the Chef, Febbroriello chronicles their romance, purchase, and operation of their first joint venture. The author makes it clear that she's not some foodie who swoons over every new culinary innovation; in fact, she's a self-described picky eater who rarely enjoys her husband's eclectic creations. However, she's particularly adept at providing insights into what it's like to be the often-invisible wife of a star chef, as well as the organizational backbone of a small family business. Just as Kitchen Confidential should be required reading for every culinary student, any couple contemplating the equally challenging joint ventures of matrimony and restaurant ownership should read Febbroriello's book... The New York Times food columnist Amanda Hesser has been the darling of the New York culinary writing world since the publication of her award-winning The Cook and the Gardener in 1999. In Cooking for Mr. Latte: A Food Lover's Courtship, With Recipes (Norton, $23.95), Hesser has turned the diary of her romance and eventual marriage to Tad Friend into a charming memoir. The diary also works as a personal recipe collection, complete with dishes adapted from family heirlooms or magazine articles and books published by her friends, as well as the occasional dish inspired by her romance. The story begins with their inauspicious blind date, where Tad made a totally unsatisfactory restaurant suggestion and ordered a latte after dinner, earning his nickname and demonstrating to Amanda his need for major reform. The tale ends a year later with their joyous wedding at Tad's parent's summer home on Long Island. As much as I enjoyed the inside dish on New York's food writing circle, I found myself somewhat annoyed by Hesser's many earnest culinary snobberies. I kept hoping she'd get over herself and that an obvious great catch like Mr. Latte had the patience to overlook or learn to abide her prejudices. Judging by the last chapter, they obviously worked it out without my advice... Award-winning journalist and Daily News columnist Colette Rossant has expertly fashioned a uniquely appealing coming-of-age story from her personal experiences in Return to Paris: A Memoir (Atria, $22). Rossant engages all our senses in descriptions of a childhood among her father's Sephardic Jewish family in warm, sunny Cairo and then creates sharp contrast when she's uprooted by a vagabond mother to live with her French-Catholic grandmother in cold, dreary post-WWII Paris. The constant in these vastly different households turns out to be the kitchens, staffed with loving, generous cooks who feed the lonely young girl's soul and pique her culinary curiosity. Later, there's a stepfather who proves to be both culinary soul mate and mentor to Colette, teaching her to recognize and appreciate haute cuisine as she accompanies him in search of chefs to staff his many hotel properties. He will also be her one ally when she scandalizes her proper French family by marrying an American. Rossant's prose brings ordinary experiences to vibrant life, moving with grace from descriptions of great meals to inviting recipes. As her story begins with a return to Paris, it ends with one, as well. Rossant and her American husband vacation in Paris, returning to the cafe Jour et La Nuit where their romance began and they planned their future together. It makes a fitting end to her story and the happy beginning of a 47-year marriage.