The Table Comes First
Family, France, and the Meaning of Food

Adam Gopnik is my favorite current writer of nonfiction. He's brilliant and often funny. He loves his family, France, and food. Though not overtly political, he has liberal sensibilities. He has a wide range of interests in sync with my own, including urbanism, sports, classic novels, and music from......more

Among the most self-indulgent, over-intellectualized works I've ever encountered--and I actually enjoyed law school. Given my enjoyment of Mr. Gopnik's other work, I am a little surprised to have been so annoyed by this one. However, after suffering through dozens of pages on "taste" as characterize......more

I loved Adam Gopnik's Paris to the Moon and so was delighted to see that the library has another book by the same author. Culinary, French, what could be better? I'm finding myself skimming, skipping much of the book; however, some parts are interesting. I'll reserve judgement. Okay ... I should just......more

great survey of the world of modern food, orbiting around haute cuisine. Gopnik has a light touch. His prose is playful and briskly rolls over his subjects with an occasional adage gleaned from a lifetime love of food. There's also an entire food writing syllabus embedded in here that I'll be going......more

Mixed feelings about this book. For a start, I felt starved for propert writing about writing about the food. We're all deluged with cook-books, culinary supplements, restaurant reviews, but there is very little writing about this trend. So, who better to do it but Adam Gopnik, essayist supreme of N......more