Talking with my mouth full : my life as a professional eater

Title:

Author:

Simmons, Gail.

ISBN:

9781401324506

9781401310981

Personal Author:

Simmons, Gail.

Edition:

First edition.

Publication Information:

New York : Hyperion, [2012]

Physical Description:

ix, 270 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Contents:

Eat, write, travel, cook -- My mother's kitchen counter -- Air-dried meat in the glove compartment -- Montreal bagels -- Heartache and hard-boiled eggs -- Finding my footing and the best back bacon -- Coffee, baguettes, and borscht -- Working the line -- Alone with rotting meat, the Vogue years -- Champagne on arrival -- A walk through the Food & wine classic tasting tents -- At the judges' table -- Confessions of a food judge -- Wedding pickles -- Sugared up on just desserts -- Petits fours.

Abstract:

When Gail Simmons first graduated from college, she felt hopelessly lost. What was she going to do? A family friend gave her some invaluable advice--make a list of what you love to do, and let that be your guide. Gail wrote down four words: Eat. Write. Travel. Cook. Little did she know, those four words would become the basis for a career as a professional eater, cook, food critic, magazine editor, and television star. Today, she's the host of Top Chef: Just Desserts, permanent judge on Top Chef, and Special Projects Director at Food & Wine magazine. She travels all over the world, eats extraordinary food, and meets fascinating people. She's living the dream. This book follows her unusual and inspiring path to success, examining the somewhat unconventional but always satisfying journey she has taken in order to create a career that didn't even exist when she first started working toward it.--From publisher description.

Personal Subject:

Simmons, Gail.

Subject Term:

Cooks -- Biography.

Document ID:

SD_ILS:2051862

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Library	Collection	Collection	Call Number	Status
Searching... Beale Memorial Library (Kern Co.)	Searching... Unknown	Adult Non-Fiction	921 SIMMONS GA Sim	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Clovis Branch Library (Fresno Co.)	Searching... Unknown	Biography Area	SIMMONS GA Sim	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

When Top Chef judge Gail Simmons first graduated from college, she felt hopelessly lost. All her friends were going to graduate school, business school, law school . . . but what was she going to do? Fortunately, a family friend gave her some invaluable advice-make a list of what you love to do, and let that be your guide. Gail wrote down four words:

Eat. Write. Travel. Cook.

Little did she know, those four words would become the basis for a career as a professional eater, cook, food critic, magazine editor, and television star. Today, she's the host of Top Chef: Just Desserts , permanent judge on Top Chef , and Special Projects Director at Food & Wine magazine. She travels all over the world, eats extraordinary food, and meets fascinating people. She's living the dream that so many of us who love to cook and eat can only imagine. But how did she get there?

Talking with My Mouth Full follows her unusual and inspiring path to success, step-by-step and bite-by-bite. It takes the reader from her early years, growing up in a household where her mother ran a small cooking school, her father made his own wine, and family vacation destinations included Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East; through her adventures at culinary school in New York City and training as an apprentice in two of New York's most acclaimed kitchens; and on to her time spent assisting Vogue's legendary food critic Jeffrey Steingarten, working for renowned chef Daniel Boulud, and ultimately landing her current jobs at Food & Wine and on Top Chef . The book is a tribute to the incredible meals and mentors she's had along the way, examining the somewhat unconventional but always satisfying journey she has taken in order to create a career that didn't even exist when she first started working toward it.

With memorable stories about the greatest (and worst) dishes she's eaten, childhood and behind-the-scenes photos, and recipes from Gail's family and her own kitchen, Talking with My Mouth Full is a true treat.

Author Notes

Gail Simmons is a trained culinary expert, the special projects director at Food & Wine , and a judge on Bravo's Emmy-winning series Top Chef since its inception in 2006. Simmons makes frequent television appearances on Today, Good Morning America, The Chew , and The Talk , and has been featured in New York magazine, Travel + Leisure, GQ , and People , among others. Her first book, a memoir titled Talking with My Mouth Full: My Life as a Professional Eater , was published in 2012. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and daughter.

Reviews (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

In this entertaining memoir, Simmons, a judge on the reality television series Top Chef chronicles her early love of eating and how her passion became a professional calling, landing her in the center of America's obsession with all things food. Following graduation from Montreal's McGill University and unsure about her future, Simmons headed home to Toronto. Securing a newspaper job, she pushed to write food stories. Her editor offered her important advice. "You need a point of view, a way to differentiate yourself. Forget about writing for a while. Go learn how to cook and how to eat." She attended culinary school, then worked at Le Cirque. Moving on, she landed a job as assistant to Vogue's food editor, a glamorous and messy position: "To this day, I'm sure I'm the only person ever to attend a Vogue meeting with Anna Wintour with goose fat running down my Old Navy T-shirt and onto my Levi's." Simmons reveals the complex backstage choreography unfolding nightly in top flight restaurants and rewards readers with glimpses of the eye-popping Aspen Food & Wine Classic. The author candidly deconstructs the world of reality television and the phenomenon of Top Chef. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Kirkus Review

Top Chef, a memoir of a life devoted to the romance of food and the business of restaurants. To her credit, Simmons notes that she has led a fortunate life, in which her career "coincided, serendipitously, with a widespread boom in enthusiasm about the culinary world." The author grew up as the child of South African and Canadian Jewish parents in Montreal, circumstances which instilled in her a cultural curiosity and desire to travel. Uncertain how to build a career as a food writer, Simmons began with local lifestyle magazines, and soon moved to New York, where she took the unusual step of attending cooking school, then worked briefly on the lines at renowned restaurants Le Cirque 2000 and Vong (which gave her authority later in the media world). She received fortuitous boosts from luminaries like Daniel Boulud and Jeffrey Steingarten, culminating in positions at Food Wine, which led to her selection by Bravo for Top Chef. The show quickly became popular, as did the spin-off Just Desserts, which she hosts (an experience she describes as surprising in its challenges and 14-hour days). Simmons describes the shows in terms that are specific about the complexities and stress of their production, but not hugely revelatory otherwise--e.g., "On Top Chef, we typically only see chefs on their best behavior." Although each chapter opens with an evocative description of food or a meal, her writing is straightforward and relaxed. Many famous chefs make appearances, but readers looking for dirt or sensuous flights of foodie detail will be disappointed, and the chapters that focus on Simmons recent personal life are less engaging. The book is most appealing as a professional overview of the dining industry's explosive growth and public profile during the last decade, even during the recession. Some readers may wish the prose had a little more grit or character, but the book will surely appeal to Simmons' many fans.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

Chef, author, and television Food Network personality Simmons recounts her life. Toronto-born before becoming a dedicated New Yorker, she had a unique upbringing in a family that valued the pleasures of good food. One of the aspects of her youth that sets Simmons apart is her deep attraction to South African food, developed on family visits to relatives there. She fell in love with dried meat strips (beef, chicken, antelope, and ostrich), which she recalls with great sensory detail. She also spent time in Spain and on an Israeli kibbutz. Returning to North America, Simmons enrolled in culinary school and labored in Le Cirque's illustrious kitchens. Equal to her passion for cooking, her love for writing led to a career in food journalism, and she became an editor at a food magazine. In an emotionally affecting sketch, she reflects on the devastation wrought by her beloved elder brother's mental illness.--Knoblauch, Mark Copyright 2010 Booklist