What I’m Reading – An Everlasting Meal

I am late to Mama Kat’s Thursday link-up party, but this week’s writing prompts uh, prompted me to finally post about my current favorite book.

For most of the summer, I have been digging into the pages of Tamar Adler’s An Everlasting Meal. I thought that I would wait to post here until I had read every word and called the book finished, but that day may not come. I find myself reading, then re-reading sections several times over. Why? There is everything to love about this book. To read through once and not return to savor the meatiest parts would be like calling for a pizza while seated in a gourmet restaurant.

For starters, the title caught my eye – An Everlasting Meal. Come on, folks, if you love food, tell me this isn’t an easy sell! A meal that just goes on and on? I’m in. Seriously, though, this intrigued me – what could that possibly mean?

The foreword is written by Alice Waters, author of one of my all-time favorite food books, The Art of Simple Food. Waters beautifully describes how An Everlasting Meal approaches cooking as a way of thinking. Cooking as philosophy? Yes.

At the start of each chapter, Adler has included wonderful quotes related to the title and contents. For a reader and word-lover like me, these are fantastic little samples of what is to come. But I also love how they add to that element of cooking as philosophy. Even more fun is digging up the original sources and reading those writings.

The chapters discuss things like how to boil water. Such a simple task. Surely, there is no reason for a chapter on this. But I was hooked instantly and came away from that chapter with a completely new perspective on water, its versatility and importance in cooking, and what felt like a revelation about how it should taste when perfectly salted. The chapter titles unfold one after another with lovely topics such as “How to Catch Your Tail,” “How to Have Balance,” and “How to Make Peace.” I love that the chapters touch on how to live and how to be while gently folding these ideas into discussion of everyday practices in your kitchen.

In reading this book, I have discovered (to my pleasant surprise) that much of what I do by instinct is exactly what Adler outlines. At the same time, I have found many new ideas and approaches to food that really never occurred to me. And yet, these “new” ideas are strangely familiar. Simple tasks like roasting vegetables or using bread in particular ways are not radical or uncommon. But perhaps my perspective regarding them at this particular time in my culinary life is what is new.

As the subtitle indicates, the book is filled with ideas for cooking with economy and grace. Grace? It seemed odd to me at first, but the more I read, the more I understand. Cooking is a graceful and grace-filled endeavor when done with purpose and intent. Roasting vegetables once to be used all week, braising cuts of meat to use in a later meal, saving the juices for yet another…the list of ways to be both economical and elegant with the simplest of ingredients and methods proceeds beautifully.

As I approach the last handful of chapters, I think this book will earn a place on my ever-ready kitchen reference shelf rather than filed in my library. Adler’s stories and techniques are compelling, and her recipes and tips are simple, quick, and readily-incorporated into any kitchen. It is a book to be savored and served often.

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