海角大神

Ruth Reichl assumes if you are reading her new memoir, Save Me the Plums: My Gourmet Memoir, then Gourmet magazine 鈥渢ouched your life鈥� in some way.聽

The magazine, where Reichl was editor-in-chief from 1999 to 2009, touched many cooks from its founding issue in 1941 to its abrupt cancellation in 2009.聽

And yet 鈥淪ave Me the Plums鈥� is only an incidental Gourmet history, covering the Venn pie wedge where it intersects with Reichl鈥檚 own life. That鈥檚 OK 鈥� abundantly so. For readers who enjoyed Reichl鈥檚 earlier memoirs, including about her life as restaurant critic for The New York Times, 鈥淪ave Me the Plums鈥� is like a dinner date with an old friend. (It鈥檚 also an unintentional companion to Reichl鈥檚 2015 cookbook 鈥淢y Kitchen Year: 136 Recipes That Saved My Life,鈥� describing her difficult year after Gourmet was shuttered.)聽

As usual, Reichl gives us a front-row seat to a glamorous world, though it鈥檚 harder here for readers to relate to the heights she鈥檚 reached. In her restaurant critic days, we felt like her co-conspirators 鈥� everyone鈥檚 a critic, as the saying goes 鈥� but editing a glossy magazine is something else. Reichl鈥檚 Gourmet salary was six times her New York Times pay, even before counting the clothing allowance and the limo service. Eventually, she learns to fit into a world where she was 鈥渟o thoroughly insulated from ordinary life that for ten years I never balanced a checkbook, made a reservation, or knew where I was meant to be at any given moment.鈥�

That world of wealth is the one that Reichl鈥檚 mother, whose mental illness forged Reichl鈥檚 childhood, always longed to enter. As she settles into the job, Reichl realizes that 鈥渇or the first time in my life I was doing something that would have pleased Mom, made her proud. And for the first time in my life, I liked that.鈥�

At Cond茅 Nast, Reichl braves a culture where all the players 鈥� including secretaries and limo drivers 鈥� know more than she does about the expectations, the politics, and even the quotidian office abbreviations.聽

Reichl鈥檚 tenure transformed the august food magazine, adding daring voices and deeper perspectives. She perceived that food trends were starting to work their way up from the streets rather than trickling down from stuffy restaurant kitchens.聽

For subscribers who saw her expand Gourmet鈥檚 horizons, it鈥檚 satisfying to hear the inside story of recipe tests and designs, or decisions like running David Foster Wallace鈥檚 groundbreaking bioethics story, 鈥淐onsider the Lobster.鈥� Some catnippy gossip is served up too, like that of billionaire owner Si Newhouse鈥檚 annual birthday party, where the buffet is bland country-club fare that 鈥渟eemed to have been designed primarily to avoid staining the carpet. ...鈥澛�

Ultimately, though, even fans may not care about the ins and outs of art directors and editors and office politics. Reichl鈥檚 in a tough spot; she can鈥檛 tell the Gourmet story without devoting space to such particulars, yet they鈥檙e just not as gripping as the bigger-picture chapters, from two enchanting trips to Paris to the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.聽

Sadly, by the time Reichl feels seasoned in her job, its era is almost over. She recounts the pressure on Gourmet鈥檚 finances, the missteps of its internet presence, the need for her to become a media personality and money-attracting brand.聽

There鈥檚 no big reveal at the end; Reichl doesn鈥檛 know any more than we do about the bitter mystery of her tenure and how and why Newhouse decided to close Gourmet. There鈥檚 still room for someone to dig into that story as a final course, just as there鈥檚 ample room to reunite here with Reichl, whom we鈥檝e missed at our virtual dinner table.