Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise by Ruth Reichl

[lightreads]

A book I shouldn't have liked, but actually did. The deeply, deeply, I cannot stress this enough deeply fake fictionalized memoir of the former New York Times food critic, who found it necessary to dress up as various people in order to visit fancy restaurants unrecognized. I should have been put off by the whole story. I mean, I'm sure the encounters have some vague linkage with reality somewhere back there, right? And I should have been put off by the rather shallow treatment of the interesting way people's behavior changes depending on who they think you are.

But dude! It's a book all about food fandom. Helped along, I suspect, by the fact that I've been treated to a series of increasingly spectacular meals myself over the past week and a half (best part about law firm courting, no competition). I think that mellowed me sufficiently to get past the otherwise hilariously inflated stories, the column reprints, the slightly smug anecdotes about how much the previous critic hated her. Food!