The Bread and the Knife: A Life in 26 Bites

A unique A-to-Z food memoir: “Employing various dishes or meals as Proustian madeleines, the author dives into the sensuous experiences of her life” (Booklist).
 
A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice
 
As it was for M. F. K. Fisher in The Gastronomical Me, food is more than a metaphor in The Bread and the Knife. It is the organizing principle of life. Starting with “A Is for Al Dente,” the loosely linked chapters evoke an alphabet of food memories that recount a woman’s journey from the challenges of youth to professional accomplishment, marriage, and divorce. Betrayal is embodied in an overripe melon; her awakening in a Béarnaise sauce. Passion fruit juice portends the end of a marriage, while tarte Tatin offers redemption. Each letter serves up a surprising variation on the struggle for self-knowledge, the joy and pain of familial and romantic love, and food’s astonishing ability to connect us with both the living and the dead.
 
The book includes six recipes that run the gamut from “Crepes Filled with Huitlacoche” to her stepfather’s homely “Stromboli Stuffing,” including a couple that are more entertaining to read about than to prepare, like liquified olives with pimento.
 
“You’ll wish the alphabet had more letters just so Dawn Drzal would keep on writing.” —Laura Shapiro, author of What She Ate