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The Man Who Ate Too Much: The Life of James Beard
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About This Book
After World War II, a newly affluent United States reached for its own gourmet culture, one at ease with the French international style of Escoffier, but also distinctly American. Enter James Beard, authority on cooking and eating, his larger-than-life presence and collection of whimsical bow ties synonymous with the nation's food for decades, even after his death in 1985. In the first biography of Beard in twenty-five years, acclaimed writer John Birdsall argues that Beard's struggles as a closeted gay man directly influenced his creation of an American cuisine. Starting in the 1920s, Beard escaped loneliness and banishment by traveling abroad to places where people ate for pleasure, not utility, and found acceptance at home by crafting an American ethos of food likewise built on passion and delight. Informed by never-before-tapped correspondence and lush with details of a golden age of home cooking, The Man Who Ate Too Much is a commanding portrait of a towering figure who still represents the best in food.
Reviews
"Less focus on Beard's book deals and more of his recipes would have been welcome."
"A thoughtful appreciation of a central figure in the story of American food culture."
"It's a reminder that food is part of culture, and terroir not simply a matter of the soil."
"a nuanced and absorbing portrait of an imperfect man, one who reshaped the way several generations of Americans thought about cooking and turned the lens of culinary appreciation away from canned truffles, Swiss Gruyère, and other ingredients imported from Europe and toward Kentucky ham, California wines, and the bounty of local farm stands ..."
"Birdsall's sentences have rhythm, too, and compress time and place so that a meal becomes a history ..."
"Birdsall is at his best when he relaxes and tells rather than judges."
"a rich, entertaining account of an essential tastemaker."
"Highly recommended, this book offers new insight into Beard's life and time."
"His knowledge of gay history and access to primary sources allows him to illustrate the camaraderie that expressed the 'pleasure and the exuberance of intimate lives that they couldn't otherwise reveal to the world.' An activist himself, Birdsall's preferred adjective is 'queer,' and what he does in convincing detail is show the reader just how much this demimonde of outcasts influenced American culture."
"Food lovers will rejoice at this new portrait of one of America's all-time culinary greats, cheering for Beard's shining legacy and empathizing with his disappointments."
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