A memoir (with recipes) of a life determined, enhanced and defined by food, by the chief restaurant critic for "The New York Times". "Like a hearing child born to deaf parents, I was shaped by my mother's handicap, discovering that food could be a way of making sense of the world...". From her notorious food-poisoning mother (otherwise known as the Queen of Mould), to the gourmand Monsieur du Croix who served Reichl her first souffle, to the Berkeley restaurant of the 1970s where every worker was a manager and every manager had an opinion, Ruth Reichl's book reveals a life and career shaped by food.