Review: Under the Table

Besides reading (and crafting), the other big passion in my life is for food. I love to cook, especially to bake, and my husband-to-be never fails to remind me of his appreciation for this passion when I step up to the stove. So it's no surprise, really, that when I came across this title in a Barnes & Noble in Chicago, I knew I had to track it down. Turns out it was the best book I've read this year, and I can't wait to tell you why I devoured (haha don't mind the pun) it in just 3 days.

Genre: nonfiction (memoir)

Plot: Sick of her desk job and realizing her life has had a steady undercurrent of food, Katherine Darling decides to follow her dream and enter chef school at the French Culinary Institute in New York. This book is about her journey, her struggles and her triumphs (and her annoyances).

It also made me really, really, REALLY want to go to chef school myself and become pastry artist.

Structure: Darling put together her book in a really clever way. She has written each chapter as a short story, of sorts, recounting one experience or fiasco or lesson or reflections on supporting character, and has grouped them according to "levels" corresponding with her progress through the four levels of chef school. The result is a light, fun read that is hard to put down combined with a very clear progression. It's the best of both worlds! We know the plot is marching onward with every page, and yet at the same time, it has all the fun and jaunty storytelling of anecdotes shared around the table. In my opinion, perfect.

I also love that she included several recipes, either inspired by the chapter she just retold or similar ones. This is a great way to involve the reader in more than just the passive sense of reading about great food; it gives them a chance to make great food! What a wonderful idea.

Execution: Darling can WRITE! This isn't shocking considering her former career (in publishing) and her current one (in food magazines), but still, it's the hallmark of the book. Many people can write about being in chef school, but few can do it with candor, grace, and polish. She has this easy-going, light storytelling that is combined with these great, dramatic moments that make it worthwhile and interesting. It's like hearing her talk about a favorite memory from chef school at Starbucks. Her characterization is superb as well, shifting the focus between herself, her classmates, and her chef-instructors seamlessly, providing much more depth. Surprisingly, the wit that I usually enjoy in favorite authors like Jasper Fforde and C. S. Lewis is absent, but the prose still entertained, delighted, and explained itself nicely without it.

Theme: food, chef school, french cooking, recipes

Read this if you love Top Chef. It's really very reminiscent of this show in terms of the gourmet food, the top-notch celebrity instructors, the competition in the kitchen, etc.

No question, this one gets 5 out of 5 stars

Other works:
Under the Table was published just a few months ago, so it's not surprising it's her only work right now.

If you liked this, you might also like:
Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love
Julie Powell's Julie & Julia (soon to be a movie! Yay!)
Julia Child's memoir My Life in France