What We Eat When We Eat Alone: Stories and 100 Recipes

by Deborah Madison and Patrick McFarlin

Book Overview

Renowned vegetarian cookbook auhor Deborah Madison set out to learn what people chew on when there isn't anyone else around. The responses are surprising--and we aren't just talking take-out or... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1423604962
• ISBN13: 9781423604969
• Release Date: May 2009
• Publisher: Gibbs Smith
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 1.31 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.6" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

A funny, laugh-out-loud book to take your mind off of everything that is going on!

What a great idea, "What We Eat When We Eat Alone". Made me laugh out loud which feels really good these days. Funny, enjoyable, interesting, just a joy to read. Things one can relate to and ideas for what to eat and then some things you go, 'Really"! AND, there are the recipes :) What fun!!

This review is for the Kindle version.

I have read this book, and made a few of the dishes. They are easy to fix and most have 5-6 ingredients that are easily found in the local market. The book talks a lot about farmers markets and gardens and such. But, really the shopping center worked for me. Most of the meals were made quickly, and are written for 2 but can be easily doubled. I have noticed that I have increased, with little effort, the fruits and vegies I eat by just making and taking my lunch to work out of this book. I just prep the night before, sometimes fully cook, then heat in microwave if it needs to be warmed. The narrative in the book is entertaining, the art work is fun, and the food turns out well. So, overall this is my favorite cookbook. I have a couple others on Kindle, that I don't recall if I've reviewed, but this is the one I use the most. **As far as formatting goes: I own a kindle 2 and DX and have this on both. I prefer to read/cook off the DX because the format is set out on the "page" slighly more appealing. But I take the k2 to the store to shop for ingredients and have no trouble reading the recipes from it. So, if I didn't own the DX I could use it to cook from as well. The TOC are linked, BUT the index is not linked. The recipes are all listed in the index, not the TOC. At first this annoyed me, but I made a work around. I just go to the index, find the recipe I want -or am interested in-then do a search from there and it goes to page. Works great. I highly recommend this cookbook. It is easy, fun, and has a lot of variety, Plus works great on the DX, and above average (for a cookbook) on K2.

A lively, fun coverage

Cookbook author Deborah Madison set out to learn what people eat when nobody's around, and here provides a satisfying blend of memoir and recipes covering food choices, influences on these choices, and relationships with food. From Sardines on Toast to Three-Minute Tuna with Salsa Verde, it's a lively, fun coverage any general lending library will find popular.

Is my husband from Mars or the butcher shop?

You may think men are from Mars. But I know better ... mine is from the butcher shop. I, on the other hand, am from the garden. From the moment I grew my first tomato plant, I was hooked. Being married doesn't always mean you have companionship for dinner. Jim's nickname for me is the "Food Nazi", while I just shake my head at his meals of gargantuan steaks and slimy raw oysters. He thinks most things I eat are strange (meatless meals with many vegetables), and incredulously asks me how I can eat that stuff. He hopes I don't make him try it. Sound familiar to anyone out there? So for those of you who actually are eating alone, you can take solace in the fact that no matter what you eat no one is there to say "What IS that you're eating?" or "Why did you buy that? You know I don't like broccoli." Or worse yet, to call you a Food Nazi. As a new vegetarian who grew up in the heartland of America dining on a plate where meat was the centerpiece, I needed help when it came time to start eating a healthier diet. I began with some vegetarian cookbooks which called for hard-to-find ingredients with preparation and cooktimes nearly as long as my workday. Finally, I found the perfect vegetarian cookbook ... Deborah Madison's 720-some-page bible of vegetarian cooking, Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, which is everything the title implies. So when I came across this book, I had to have it. Deborah and her husband, Patrick McFarlin, are a gifted couple with a complement of creativity many would envy. I would imagine dinner at their place would be quite the experience. If you invite me Deborah, I will come. With a dose of humor, interesting facts, real-life stories, and 100 delicious recipes, this book is one you'll want to read from cover to cover. It's a delight! Here's one interesting tidbit ... did you know that if we eat leftovers we will help to save the world? Discarded food accounts for a fifth of the United Kingdom's carbon emissions. The 6.7 million tons of discarded food represents a third of all food purchased. So let's all eat our leftovers for a greener planet! If you're a vegetarian or flexitarian and you don't already own a Deborah Madison cookbook, first order Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. Then order this book. It's a hoot!

I laughed out loud

Deborah Madison and Patrick McFarlin have written a great quirky book about favorite solo meals and how we indulge ourselves when no one is watching. It's a behind the scenes look at our lives and our values. I laughed out loud at some of the bizzare foods people craved from their childhoods like fried Spam and grape jelly and hungered to feast on foods like asparagus roasted for an entire week of solo snacking. Deborah's writing was great, but I confess that Patrick's surprisingly bold pictures compelled me to search through the book and smile at his creativity before reading the whole thing. This is the kind of fun book anyone could enjoy.

I love this book!

Deborah Madison is my all time favorite cookbook author and this book is a wonderful collaboration with her husband, Patrick McFarlin whose fantastic illustrations add so much to the book. I could not put the book down and laughed a lot of the way through it. It is a fun book to read and I have found my self totally addicted to avocado tacos since I read about them! I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in food on any level!