Eating My Words: An Appetite for Life

excellent recounting of her life as a reviewer, and more. great read, even for the non-foodie. wonderful summer read, too.

I loved this book! Ms. Sheraton is an interesting multidimensional woman. Her book is as her life filled with fascinating travel adventures, shopping, and eating. Some of my own favorite passions.

I give this memoir five stars for the the author's curiousity, acumen and intelligence, all of which inform this wide-ranging tale. Eating My Words will answer your questions about Mimi Sheraton's adventures as a New York Times food critic, travel writer and magazine editor, as well as stints spent as consultant to venues ranging from the famed Four Seasons restaurant to public schools and hospital kitchens. Through it all, Sheraton reveals a keen intellect, a dedication to research, and a passion for accuracy. Her prose is direct rather than lyrical, but the reader will emerge with a better understanding of restaurants and both admiration and appreciation for a woman and writer who has lived her life well. Especially worthy savoring are Sheraton's love for her husband, Richard Falcone-- their marriage of 49 years gives a happy backdrop to this memoir, and Sheraton's reminiscences of her parents, who imbue her with wit, chutzpah, and lifelong curiousity about all things culinary. Also welcome are Sheraton's observations about the workplace: "It's not your job, the employer has rented it to you," she observes, noting that if the job no longer suits you, it is time to quit-- something that Sheraton did several times in her career, including her departure from the New York Times. My appreciation for Sheraton and this book grew as I progressed through the narrative. My initial four star appraisal had grown to five my the end of this memoir, chiefly because of my admiration for Sheraton and her well-lived life. This is a woman who has lived with zest and integrity aned, thankfully, has chosen to share her experiences with us. We should all be so lucky.

Ms. Sheraton's latest book is her first memoir, and looks back at her long career as a journalist. Best known as a restaurant critic for the New York Times during the 70s, Sheraton goes into great detail about how she formulated her reviews, how she bucked the system on a regular basis with those reviews, talks about the many disguises she would don to avoid being recognized by the employees of restaurants, and her many other endevours as a freelance journalist, writing for The New Yorker and several Conde Nast publications among others. The back cover of the book presents twenty questions, all of which are answered in the course of the book in the form of some upfront, candid, and often hilarious ways. Some of the most engrossing stories involve her battles with some legendary French chefs, including Paul Bocuse, and her unique ways of dealing with the sometimes overbearing and even sometimes obscene things the French chefs tried to do to her reputation as a food critic. Ms. Sheraton also gets quite personal in the opening chapters, describing much of her upbringing and her youth in New York, and makes it easy to see why she has become the entertaining writer that she is. She also tells her tales of dining all over the world, and her personal favorite spots for doing so. No matter where in the world a restaurant has opened up, chances are Sheraton has been there, and has an opinion about what it's like. The chronological, anecdotal style of the book makes the book flow from start to finish, and quite honestly, has been one of the most entertaining books I've personally read of late. If you're interested in getting a glimpse behind the scenes at how a top food critic operates, and want to laugh along in the process, look no further than Eating My Words.

By Bill Marsano. Years ago, in the slim hope of making myself useful on a certain magazine, I often volunteered to edit Mimi Sheraton's column. She was counted a tough cookie by the other editors, who preferred saps. My stock did in fact rise through self-sacrifice, and so did my free time, for the fact was her column was a breeze.Of course, if an editor mucked around with her copy (and that, I can say without exposing any trade secrets, is what editors generally do), then it wasn't a breeze. So after reading her tight-knit prose, her well-reasoned judgments, her lucid thoughts, I'd call her about a couple of minor points and we'd agree on changing or not in about ten minutes. Then, with my door shut and no one in any case daring to approach Sheraton Control, I had the afternoon free. (Later, when other editors asked how it had gone, I just rolled my eyes.)Keys to Sheraton's style were sticking to the subject and not showing off. Her judgments were measured, not designed to become sound bites; the meal was the star, not the reviewer. Here she does write about (among many other things) herself, and what an interesting self she turns out to be. She covers a lot of ground, including childhood before the war (i.e., World War II); college-girl adventures in New York City (especially funny: her story of breaking up with a civilian boyfriend while being attached to two other guys in the armed services); early work in home-furnishings journalism; plunging into food writing through a passion for travel; her ups and downs as a nationally known food critic for the New York Times (and other publications) and her attempts at improving what professionals call "volume feedings and mass management" and the rest of us call jail, airline, school and hospital food.Sheraton has a fine line in dry wit and is always informative: Most readers will learn some surprising things about restaurants and reviewing. She lists the 20 most-asked quiestion and answers every one, and provides a good idea of the pressures applied to a critic by big-name restaurateurs--and by people who think they're critics just because they run a newspaper. (Odd--but I don't think the Times has reviewed her book. Odd.) But she isn't dishy. Anyone looking here for gossip, innuendo and the settling of scores has come to the wrong place. Sheraton conquers but she does not stoop. And she does it all in 240 pages. One reason is that she writes tightly and tartly. (At least one other well-known "foodie" has published two books, totaling nearly 600 pages, and isn't finished yet.) Another is that she speaks often of wonderful dishes but gives no recipes. Good for her. Recipes are turning up in lots of places they don't really belong these days, including mysteries and popular novels. I usually suspect that means the author hasn't really got the goods, and knows it, and hopes I won't notice. (For much the same reason I resist nutritional puns traditional in this sort of review. I refuse to call this a "bub