NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERBefore Gabrielle Hamilton opened her acclaimed New York restaurant Prune, she spent twenty hard-living years trying to find purpose and meaning in her life. Blood, Bones & Butter follows an unconventional journey through the many kitchens Hamilton has inhabited through the years: the rural kitchen of her childhood, where her adored mother stood over the … mother stood over the six-burner with an oily wooden spoon in hand; the kitchens of France, Greece, and Turkey, where she was often fed by complete strangers and learned the essence of hospitality; Hamilton’s own kitchen at Prune, with its many unexpected challenges; and the kitchen of her Italian mother-in-law, who serves as the link between Hamilton’s idyllic past and her own future family—the result of a prickly marriage that nonetheless yields lasting dividends. By turns epic and intimate, Gabrielle Hamilton’s story is told with uncommon honesty, grit, humor, and passion.
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Gabrielle Hamilton is a excellent writer, so it’s not surprising that she was headed towards a writing career before she finally decided to become a chef. The writing is exceptionally vivid and honest. One of the best memoirs I’ve read.
If you love food and cooking this is a must read!!
Not a great book. Starts with an idyllic childhood, jumps to drugs and youth, and then a totally self-absorbed adulthood. The author does not seem to realize how self-incriminating her rants are.
Great book for foodies with a taste for dysfunctional families. An adult chef looks back on the people and places who formed her.
Authentic tale of a life of struggle, pain and love. This is one of my favorite books I have found. Great for people who have fallen in love with food during their life journey and understand the strong connection between food and peace.
Delightful at its start. If you’re not a fan of psycho-quaint experiences with cooks, not sure this will hold your interest. I love both culinary history and off-beat stories written by cooks, in general.
If you are interested the food industry, and how a chef becomes fascinated and obsessed with fine foods, here is another good read. And I loved the sojourns in Italy and their fine authentic country food. It was lovely to experience the world along with Gabrielle. She has done a wonderful job of sharing her life and loves.
Gabrielle is a great writer with interesting character studies. Her childhood is not the norm but is the wellspring for her love of food and cooking. The broken family throws her into early adulthood which she handles poorly but with an amazing work ethic. Her discussion of her route through life is no vacation so the reader can relate because …
Honest and smart. Delicious reading!
I don’t even cook, but I loved reading about all the experiences.
Interesting and very well written
Had to give up on this one fairly early on. Difficult character in a difficult tale.
What a life story!
the exhausting and chaotic world of the executive chef and the path to experience and expertise. Every future chef and writer (she has an MFA in creative writing) should read this compelling memoir. Gabrielle writes so well and her characterizations of a dysfunctional family are powerful (father,husband, etc.)
Wonderful writing, fascinating life story.
The writing in this book was so incredible. I wanted to be the character in her early life.
A difficult relationship between a chef and the father of their children. Seemingly, the chef was attracted more to the mystique of the Italian culture and it’s inbuilt personal relationships and their perception and use of food. I enjoyed this inside look at a chef striving to follow her dream of establishing her restaurant in the midst of her …
Good insight into the restaurant world, how true the sacrifice & setbacks to fulfill your dream! Nice, realistic accounting of what it takes to
Wonderful, authentic read. Good insight on being a chef/owner of a successful restaurant. And, interesting from the first page to the last.
Hysterical and true to life account of working in the food and beverage industry, not to mention growing up in a totally bizarre family. I wish I lived in NYC so I could eat at Prune. I will have to settle with making some of the dishes from the Chef’s cookbook.