The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food

From the legendary editor who helped shape modern cookbook publishingone of the food worlds most admired figuresan evocative and inspiring memoir.

Living in Paris after World War II, Judith Jones broke free of the bland American food she had been raised on and reveled in everyday French culinary delights. On returning to the Stateshoping to bring some joie de cuisine to Americashe published Julia Childs Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The rest is publishing and gastronomic history.

A new world now opened up to Jones: discovering, with her husband, Evan, the delights of American food; working with the tireless Julia; absorbing the wisdom of James Beard; understanding food as memory through the writings of Claudia Roden and Madhur Jaffrey; demystifying the techniques of Chinese cookery with Irene Kuo; absorbing the Italian way through the warmth of Lidia Bastianich; and working with Edna Lewis, Marion Cunningham, Joan Nathan, and other groundbreaking cooks.

Jones considers matters of taste (can it be acquired?). She discusses the vagaries of vegetable gardening in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont and the joys of foraging in the woods and meadows. And she writes about M.F.K. Fisher: as mentor, friend, and the source of luminous insight into the arts of eating, living, and aging.

Embellished with fifty recipeseach with its own story and special tipsthis is an absolutely charming memoir by a woman who was present at the creation of the American food revolution and played a seminal role in shaping it.