Tod Davies has written a memoir overflowing with food. Every page of Jam Today recounts a meal or an ingredient, in a lively, readable style that makes you want to run out plant a garden, fill a market basket, and start cooking. No recipes, though, and that's the point. If you know what you're doing, you don't really need them.
Davies is an actress and screenwriter; she co-wrote the original script for Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, and started a small publishing house called Exterminating Angel Press (named for the dark film by Luis Bunuel).
However, for all its good intentions (that nourishing yourself and loved ones can change the world) Jam Today reads rather like a series of posts by a wordy blogger; it's like listening to a particularly chatty guest at a boring dinner party, or like watching a babbling host on the Food Channel. Your mileage may vary, but for Cornichon, at least, a small taste was plenty.
Davies reads from her book tomorrow at 7 PM at the University Bookstore and Thursday at 5 PM at 5 PM at Pilot Books on Broadway.
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