Books for Giving

If you have pals who love food and with whom you exchange presents, help may be at hand on the gift front. Unless you know them very well, I would counsel against cookery books. (An exception may, of course, be made if the person has been wise enough to drop unsubtle hints.) Suffice it to say that in any charity book shop in January the shelves will be groaning with brand new, clearly untouched examples.

Here are a couple which I've enjoyed relatively recently,

 

A Woman's Place is in the Kitchen

A Chef's Dispatches from Behind The Pass

Sally Abé

Fleet                                                                               £22                                                                 pp258

 

Feminism - the advocacy of the equality of the sexes and the establishment of the political, social and economic rights of the female sex

Oxford English Dictionary

Many of you may know Sally Abé from the Great British Menu. Fewer will be aware of the huge debt owed to her for making professional kitchens more civilised places to be, and dragging them out of the dark feudal days.

The title of her autobiography is tongue in cheek. She would extend it by adding, a fine dining, Michelin starred kitchen. She has worked in a fair few of them in her time, starting off at The Savoy under Marcus Wareing. Remarkable for someone with absolutely no family background or interest in food. As head chef she oversaw the kitchen at The Harewood Arms, retaining a Michelin star and being awarded the title of Number One Gastropub in the UK. But how did she get there? That's another story.

A fairly disgraceful story in fact, of 16 hour days in atmospheres toxic with misogyny and bullying. Where working from 8 - 4 was a half shift. Where she was given nicknames such as Tit Rat, and where bets were taken on which chef would be the first to bed her. The film industry thought that shocking portrayals of kitchen life such as Boiling Point and The Bear were drama. Sally just regarded them as true to life documentaries.

At The Harewood it dawned on her that life could and should be different. Yoga classes were introduced. Hours were reduced and counselling made available. She herself had earlier had to make use of that - encouraged by Gordon Ramsay - having encountered burnout and panic attacks. In her own restaurant today - The Pem, named for the nickname of suffragette Emily Davison - the kitchen has at least an equal number of female chefs. The world is beginning to realise that a four day week is achievable and that some sort of work life balance is possible even in the tense atmosphere of a professional kitchen.

Thanks to Sally for that, as well as for a book which is fascinating but at times disturbing. It is impossible to argue with her final point. If a restaurant cannot produce intricate, haute cuisine without abusing or exploiting its staff, should it exist at all?

 

Peach Street to Lobster Lane

Coast to Coast in Search of American Cuisine

Felicity Cloake

Mudlark/Harper Collins                                                 £16.99                                                               pp387

Regulars of this column, even non Guardian readers, need no introduction to the wonderful Felicity Cloake. In search of a perfect recipe you may well have combed her columns or books. I have loved her travel cum food books when she has crisscrossed countries on Eddy, her trusty bike.

One More Croissant For The Road and Red Sauce, Brown Sauce have both been featured here. As one who came late to the FC party, I was first in line to acquire my copy of this volume. The first impression from the title is that this is a trip which Barbie may have taken after leaving Toyland. Then you think, is this woman really going to cycle across the States? Has she gone stark staring bonkers?

My views, inevitably, are coloured by my own experience. I have visited the USA many times. I love the country: I love the people. The food less so. From that generalisation I exclude Louisiana, with its glorious fusion of French and Creole cuisine. Closer to home, I have eaten very well in New England, chowder, seafood and, of course, Lobster Lane, (Yes, it really does exist.)

What about the 35 or so other states which remain undiscovered? Well watching Diners, Drive-ins and Dives really hasn't whetted my taste buds. The fact that much of the food seems to be fried, and that the portions seem to be as huge as the customers is positively off putting.

But ever the optimist, Cloake sees the positive in everything. A deep fried apple pie from McDonalds? She enthuses, God, deep-fried anything is delicious. Pies, in fact, are the leitmotif to the book, just as croissants and condiments were in the previous two. You thought the Tom Eats! scoring system was obscure? Felicity's pie chart, as it were, has seven grades, and not too many of those sampled pass muster. Oliaberry or shoofly, anybody? Or sweet potato pie with grasshopper shake?

Her tales of near death experiences on Eddy, or of being bitten to distraction by horse flies would not encourage me (nor, I suspect, any sane person) to replicate the adventure. But at journey's end she concludes, I'd turn right round and cycle back the other way if it wasn't for that pesky little dog (Wilf, her devoted hound).

One thing is certain. Felicity Cloake couldn't be boring if she tried. This is a wonderful combination of travelogue, food odyssey and social commentary written in her own inimitable way, with some recipes thrown in for good measure. Highly recommended.