The Kinfolk Table: Recipes for Small Gatherings Author: Visit Amazon's Nathan Williams Page | Language: English | ISBN:
1579655327 | Format: PDF
The Kinfolk Table: Recipes for Small Gatherings Description
Review
“Unfussy menus . . . . A testament to slowing down to enjoy a good meal along with good company.” —Celebrated Living
(
Celebrated Living)
About the Author
As the founding editor of Kinfolk magazine, Nathan Williams works with a team of photographers, writers, illustrators, and designers in a collaborative effort to encourage a natural approach to entertaining. He lives with his wife, Katie, in Portland, Oregon, and travels to host a Kinfolk dinner series across the United States and in other countries.
- Hardcover: 368 pages
- Publisher: Artisan (October 15, 2013)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1579655327
- ISBN-13: 978-1579655327
- Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.4 x 1.5 inches
- Shipping Weight: 3.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
It's rare that a cookbook would evoke such vitriol, but after I received The Kinfolk Table: Recipes for Small Gatherings, I was livid. I realized that this wasn't a celebration of food and gathering and the magic those two ignite, this was the sound of one hand clapping, a coffee-table book devoted to the very "cool" artists and Web celebrities from across the country. The narrative principally centers on the people, not the food, which would be fine if that were the intention. Without a clear narrative and culinary journey, we're left to merely weave in and out of kitchens like a spool of thread, but we're not invited to linger. Rarely do we see the fruits of the contributors' labor and the gatherings they so fastidiously rhapsodize. The Kinfolkers drive miles for mussels and set a formidable table in their outdoor barns. Theirs is a life of a cultivated beauty that serves up the illusion of simplicity. In reality, the Tao of Kinfolk is nothing more than understated affluence and luxury. Theirs are gatherings where meals are photographed with a thousand-dollar camera; where everyone has clean skin, shiny hair, and ebullient optimism; where kids play around the paddock. Theirs is a world that exists for few.
There is no real visceral connection between image and type. Rather, the cookbook tells us the story of people who project the lives you wish you could live, and the recipes are merely an antecedent to that lovely fiction.
More troubling was the editorial decision to segment the book by "place." The Kinfolk Brooklyn is whitewashed and moneyed, devoid of flavor, color, or texture. Where is the Russian food? Where is the Caribbean food? Dominican, Italian, Polish, etc.?
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