Food and the City – Reviewed by Beth Deluzain
Photography By Savannah Dean
I first experienced the “food world” in 1971 when, as a young teacher, I had a summer job as a restaurant hostess. This brief experience created my appetite for all things food related and I became an avid reader and collector of cookbooks. Then I read Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential and came to appreciate books about food, chefs, and restaurants. Food and the City (2016) by Ina Yalof joins the culinary canon by capturing the unique oral history of food workers in New York City. In their own words, these cooks, chefs, servers, owners, butchers, and managers share why they are proud to be a part of this industry.
Yalof, the author/co-author of eight eclectic books including How I Write and What Happy Women Know, has done a masterful job of organizing this collection of 53 narratives into nine themed sections. The first two, “Starting from Scratch” and “Duck Dynasties,” highlight the rags-to-riches stories of those who built successful businesses from nothing.
As a big fan of chefs’ biographies, the two chapters that focus on cooking, “Taking the Heat” featuring line cooks and kitchen workers and “Romans a’ Chef” showing those at the top, had me rereading in the middle of the book. Section five, “The Party Line,” contains the funniest lines and experiences, including taking a shower with a turkey and handling requests from celebrities who want free food. Section six deals with the “Front of the House,” the people we see when we dine out and who take immense pride in ensuring an unforgettable experience for guests.
The last three parts explore highly interesting but less familiar areas of the industry. Entitled “Pairings,” section seven is a study of successful and unusual partnerships in the food business. “Crowd Feeding” contains interviews with the director for prison food in New York, a firehouse cook, and a caterer for movies and television sets. “Counter Culture” covers retail prepared food from the perspective of those who work the counters in fancy food emporiums, a butcher shop, and a pasta store in Little Italy and it made me
very hungry.
Yalof concludes with commentary on the New York food scene and praise for her subjects and says, “I have unwavering respect for these people. For their resilience, their determination, their passion.” And I have unwavering respect for this book.
About Beth Deluzain
Beth Deluzain has retired twice. First from a 34 year-long career as an educator with Bay District Schools and recently from a leadership position for a nonprofit organization that she held for 13 years. Her major retirement goal is to avoid turning into Jabba the Hutt while reading about food and eating at Liza’s Kitchen. Her reading tastes are wide-ranging and include everything from serious fiction to fantasy. She is a proud foodie, a mediocre cook, and has a crush on Jacques Pepin.