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Comfort Me With Apples: More Adventures at the Table

ruth reichl lorelei king

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In this delightful sequel to her bestseller Tender at the Bone, the beloved food writer Ruth Reichl returns with more tales of love, life, humor, and marvelous meals.When listeners left Ruth at the end of Tender at the Bone, she was in Berkeley, California, working as a chef at the Swallow restaurant. Comfort Me with Apples picks up in 1978; Ruth is still living in a commune with her husband, Doug, but she's decided to put down her chef's toque and embark on a career as a restaurant critic. After a bumpy start (at the end of her very first on-the-job dinner, her credit card is unceremoniously rejected), she is soon visiting restaurants all over the world in search of a meal to write home about. The story that follows is an affectionate look at the apprenticeship--funny, daunting, always entertaining--of one of our best food writers.Ruth Reichl's pursuit of good food and good company leads her to New York and China, France and Los Angeles. She encounters world-famous chefs such as Wolfgang Puck and the three-star aristocracy of French cuisine, and her accounts of these meetings range from the madcap to the sublime. From a transformative lunch with M. F. K. Fisher to a friendship with Alice Waters, Reichl lovingly re-creates all her memorable meals in such succulent detail that listeners will yearn for truffles in Provence and shrimp in Beijing.Throughout it all, Reichl is unafraid, even eager, to poke holes in the pretensions of food critics, making each and every course a hilarious and instructive occasion for novices and experts alike. Reichl also shares the intimacies of her personal life--the joys and the heartbreaks behind the reviews--in a style so honest and warm that listeners will feel they are enjoying a cozy dining-table conversation with a friend.

8 pages, Audio Cassette

First published June 12,2001

This edition

Format
8 pages, Audio Cassette
Published
September 28, 2001 by Chivers Audio Books
ISBN
9780792725121
ASIN
0792725123
Language
English

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About the author

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ruth reichl

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Community Reviews

Rating(4 / 5.0, 100 votes)
5 stars
33(33%)
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38(38%)
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29(29%)
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100 reviews All reviews
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Nushyfishy
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Reichl traces the rise of American foodie culture in the 1970s–80s (Alice Waters and Wolfgang Puck) through her time as a food critic for the Los Angeles Times, also weaving in personal history – from a Berkeley co-op with her first husband to a home in the California hills with her second after affairs and a sticky divorce. Throughout she describes meals in mouth-watering detail, like this Thai dish: “The hot-pink soup was dotted with lacy green leaves of cilantro, like little bursts of breeze behind the heat. … I took another spoonful of soup and tasted citrus, as if lemons had once gone gliding through and left their ghosts behind.”
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xchronicles
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Ruth reichl is such a wonderful writer and this book was just what I wanted it to be. I curled up in beautiful descriptions of food, travel, and to my shock- lots of passion and romance. This book was sexy!! However it did lose a star on the way with the less ~politically correct~ sections. It was indeed Interesting to see her journey to China, especially in the early days when so few foreigners were there, but of course there had to be a mention of eating dogs, and tons of ~political intrigue~ about this mysterious world. Taishan could not have been treated more differently than paris or Barcelona. But tbh I was able to overlook that, taking in account when the events happened and when it was written, it was the penultimate chapter with Gabi that was harder to swallow. It’s like the entire adoption saga of Little Fires Everywhere got compressed into one chapter. And I’m glad she included Michaels feelings about why this all was ~problematic~ but the framing of it all just felt icky. Of course, it’s super complex and was obv a huge part of her life they would be strange to exclude from a memoir. But I guess it kind of killed the vibe??

That said I will continue to return to Ruth Reichl’s writing any time I just need a lovely, delicious book.
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snipermonkers
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Yes this is my third Reichl book in a month. The food memoir may be my new favorite genre. She’s a lovely writer. I’m reading these out of chronological order, but that’s ok.
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MrWbolt
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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This was a treat to read, an escape into an appreciation of good writing, good food, good living, and good loving -- with heavy doses of not-so-good of the last on the side. Although it is truly hard to beat the sensuality of two food writers entwined in their craft and each other while immersed in an illicit affair in France. And having lived and cooked and explored the joys (and failures) of 1970s back-to-the-earth recipes in The Best Communal House in Philly, I really enjoyed hearing about hers in Berkeley. Nope, diet for a small planet doesn't always cut it, but it made me take a philosophical turn that has stayed with me.

I have long admired Ruth Reichl's short form food commentaries in Gourmet, elsewhere, but I'm now going to grab her other memoirs. She's also inspired me to revisit MFK Fisher.

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Iscah
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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When I read non-fiction, I sometimes am disappointed by how much is told about the author's personal life rather than about the topic I chose the book for (in this case, food). Yet in Ruth Reichl's life food plays such a big part, that you probably cannot write about one and not mention the other.
I have never met Ruth Reichl, but from what I've read (this and also Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise ) she seems extremely likable and nice. Therefore, I laughed and I cried with this book. The memoir is very raw and honest, and I admire Ruth for that. I look forward to reading another stuff from her.
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bar3
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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I love Ruth Reichls writing but this one had so many cringe-y parts, including too much detail about her relationships. I was so surprised by the tragic nature of her adoption.
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syufrea
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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There were a lot of ups and downs throughout this book, woven together through a love of food. The adventures of a food critic are at times exhilarating and others rather lonely, and I appreciate the honesty throughout.
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numbnutts12
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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I really enjoy Ruth Reichl's writing. I do not, however, enjoy reading about her extra-marital affairs. I understand that her marriage became stale, but having an affair with one's boss is the answer? I think not. This book was only redeemed by enjoyable chapters describing her trips to Tailand and Barcelona, as well as her friendship with Danny Kaye. I was gutted by her heart-wrenching chapter about her attempt to adopt an Hispanic baby, previously given up by her birth mother. Such highs and lows in her life.
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