The Bread and the Knife: A Life in 26 Bites

Drzal, freelance writer and one-time cookbook editor, charmingly reflects on her life with food. In chapters arranged by food name from A to Z, Drzal examines her personality, relationships, and professional encounters. She recalls the sound of her grandmother beating an egg or the steam from her father’s sizzling kielbasa on a Sunday morning. Her voice is honest and approachable as she shares the messy side of her work in the food business, such as when she served pheasant and sauerkraut to her idol M.F.K. Fisher, who commented “This has no taste, dear” and then choked after biting into the pheasant’s leg. When working with Josefina Howard, the “force of nature” behind the New York restaurant Rosa Mexicano, Drzal recalls how the restaurateur kicked out a cookbook editor who didn’t know who Noel Coward was. Throughout, she includes a few recipes for such unexpected items as gruel (with amaranth, almond milk, and hemp seed) and urab sayur, a Balinese salad of bean sprouts, coconut and lemongrass. Drzal artfully demonstrates how certain meals, no matter how simple or ornate, can resonate for years. [em](Oct.) [/em]