Save Me the Plums: My Gourmet Memoir

I have cherished each and every one of Ruth Reichl’s books. (Tender at the Bone, Comfort me with Apples were my favorites.). I’ve waited 5 years, not so patiently, since her last book and it did not disappoint. This book covers her years as Editor of Gourmet magazine. I was especially interested since I was in advertising and had many dealings with the magazine. She gives us a glimpse of the world of Condé Nast with accurate perceptions their various characters. I was so sad when Goumet closed and I was so sad when this book ended.

Ruth Reichl knows about good food, and she knows good food writing. After years as the food critic for The New York Times, and then for years before at the Los Angeles Times, she decided to accept the job as Editor-in-Chief at Gourmet magazine.Reichl had a long relationship with Gourmet, from when she first found the magazine in a dusty used bookstore on an outing with her book designer father, through the years it lost its unique voice, through to her reign as editor. She was able to bring back the spark that Gourmet had, to let her creative team run wild with imagination and panache. She inspired the best young writers to its pages. She brought life to its covers. She helped unite the chefs of New York in celebrations and in charity work.Save Me the Plums is her memoir of her decade at Gourmet, from her early days where she felt she was out of her depth, through the years where the magazine recaptured its spirit and its voice, to the final days, where nothing was able to save the magazine from the depths of the nation’s financial devastation.Reichl’s stories are beautifully told, filled with textures and flavors, nuance and surprise, and just like the best gourmet meal, a dash of magic. I love reading her stories. She has a way of explaining how things change as they stay the same and how you can move forward by staying in place. And that story of Paris and the black dress? Absolutely breathtaking!If you’ve read Ruth Reichl before, then you know how special her writing is. You should buy this and devour it immediately. If you’ve not read her before, then my advice is the same. Start with this one, or a different memoir, or her novel Delicious!, or one of her cookbooks (I adore her 2015 cookbook My Kitchen Year on audio—yes, I do know how that sounds, and believe me, you do want to listen to a cookbook on audio!). But give yourself the gift of Reichl’s writing. After you read one, be prepared. You’ll be left hungry for more.Galleys for Save Me the Plums were provided by Random House through NetGalley, with many thanks.

I have no idea what first attracted me to Ruth Reichl’s books since I’m not much of a cook, live on the West Coast and don’t read food reviews or magazines like Gourmet. Yet I’ve read all her books and was absolutely delighted to discover she had written a new one. Thank you Random House and NetGalley for allowing me to read this literary treat in preview.It’s not the food that I’m attracted to but her experiences and relationships with people, Michael and Nick included. She’s not a self-avowed feminist, yet she has confidently and carefully negotiated realms traditionally manned by men. In her ten-year tenure as editor-in-chief at Gourmet she became accustomed to a generous budget, clothing allowance and a driver, which was in stark contrast to the Paris-on-a-shoestring trip she took in the last days of the magazine where she rediscovered the kindness of strangers. She recounted an occasion when she was stranded in an airport and was invited by a fellow traveler to her home. She mused, “Those things never happen when you travel on the excess express. The more stars in your itinerary, the less likely you are to find the real life of another country. I’d forgotten how money becomes a barrier insulating you from ordinary life.”One of my favorite moments in the book was when Reichl met a widower while dining and realized that the very expensive dress she had declined to buy in a speciality shop had belonged to his wife. Years later she met him again, but at a small restaurant and expressed surprise to see him “slumming..” He responded, “When you attain my age you will understand one of life’s great secrets: Luxury is best appreciated in small portions. When it becomes routine it loses its allure.”She concludes with an acknowledgement: “This whole book is , or course, a thank-you to the late Si Newhouse, but it can’t be said often enough. If only the world had more people cheering for excellence.” Indeed.

Ruth Reichl skill in writing allows you to taste the food and love the people she is writing about. A wonderful book!!!

I miss Gourmet magazine! I miss it every month. I have a few copies squirreled away, as well as innumerable recipes I cut and saved. And I have a couple of the cookbooks. I didn't always make the recipes- too many of them had too many ingredients and were too fiddly for me- but I loved to read the articles. I was thrilled to get this latest memoir from Ruth Reichl as an ARC from Netgalley. She's written a love letter to the magazine (and included some recipes). Some of the scenes are priceless; I always wondered about the test kitchen. This is the perfect read for fans of the magazine, those who enjoy food writing, and those looking for a well written and wry memoir. Two thumbs up!

Riveting book. Loved it as much as all her other books.

What a wonderful book! Just as great as Reichl’s previous memoirs and well worth the read.

Galloped through her memoir of her years at “Gourmet” magazine in one delicious afternoon. Includes several recipes.

I adore Ruth Reichl’s writing and this was a welcome addition to her memoirs. The recipes are an added bonus. Her insight into Condé Nast is fascinating and I found her chapter on 9/11 particularly moving. More please.

Great story. Hard working lady in the food magazine business.

A most enjoyable read by an informed and talented lady.

Although the plums in the title come from a William Carlos Williams poem, they could easily refer to the plum, as in coveted, job as editor in chief of Gourmet magazine, or the no lesser plum perks that came with it. As much as this book shows glimpses of the editorial world within the giant Condé Nast group, and autobiographical episodes in Reichl’s life meant to be significant, it is overall very light, self-serving and frivolous, yet entertaining. She writes very well and the best bits, as was to be expected, are the food descriptions. Sadly there were not enough of these to satisfy my appetite.

I loved this book as I do all of Ruth Reichl’s works...I enjoyed it so much that I read it slowly so as to savour her brilliant prose..