Talking With My Mouth Full
by Gail Simmons
Hyperion (e-book)

It takes a while to appreciate Gail Simmons' memoir. A judge on reality TV-programme Top Chef and special projects director at Food & Wine magazine, hers is not a household name, yet she writes as though readers would want to know about her upbringing, her boyfriends and that it was her mother's best friend who inspired her as a cook. But then her career as a professional eater started and whetted the appetite for more. After completing a degree in humanistic studies at McGill University in Montreal, she entered the Peter Kump New York Cooking School, learned the language of kitchens and revelled in the techniques behind professional cooking. Although less than glamorous, her job as Jeffrey Steingarten's assistant (Vogue magazine's food critic) proved fascinating, seeing her researching espresso machines, finding the best mortar and pestle, testing whether all salt is equally salty (it is, depending on grain size), learning how to age meat, and more. This alone could have constituted a book, although copyright restrictions probably exist. You need to be interested in food to enjoy the book.