Cooking Memoir

Blood, Bones and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton is not a strictly chronological memoir, but a passionate discussion of a difficult life. Gabrielle's father was an artist,her mother a Frenchwoman who stayed home and cooked for her large family. To Gabrielle it was idyllic, until the divorce. Mom and the older kids took off and Gabrielle was left to her own devices. At 13 she started working,at 16 moving to New York City. What followed was 20 hard years in the food industry,opening a restaurant,and getting a MFA from University of Michigan. She eventually opened a celebrated restaurant and married and Italian man in spite of being a professed lesbian. This memoir features wonderful sensual writing about food,rage over many issues and a longing to find home. One of the best I've read! ML