Ruth Reichl and Me
Ruth Reichl My Kitchen Year: 136 Recipes that Saved My Life
For years I raised children, gardened, and cooked for family and friends in rural Southeast Saskatchewan. Throughout that time, Gourmet magazine provided a portal through which I could come and go.
The magazine recipes came easily to me, with ingredients I had at my fingertips. We enjoyed a “farm-to-table” concept, but we called it “dinner.” Gourmet travel articles also allowed me to go. They reassured me of a larger world, of restaurants and countries beyond our little town, places I felt sure I would one day visit.
In the fall of 2009, I felt shock and dismay when my portal slammed shut. Suddenly and without warning, Condé Nast closed Gourmet magazine, a sixty-nine-year-old institution. I felt ticked they hadn’t given me, a faithful subscriber, any notice. Then I found out they didn’t give editor Ruth Reichl any notice either.
Ruth Reichl My Kitchen Year: 136 Recipes that Saved My Life is the story of how Reichl not only survived but thrived in the year that followed the shutdown of her beloved magazine. My Kitchen Year is a journal and a cookbook, as well as a collection of poetry and photography.
“Good night. Hot kimchi, slicked
with chiles. Smoky, sweet grilled beef
in crisp lettuce. Sake. Slow stroll
home down electric streets.”
As she once did with Gourmet magazine, Ruth Reichl’s My Kitchen Year takes me places with her poetic descriptions of food and place.
Dear Ruth Reichl,
Thank you for your time editing Gourmet magazine.
You helped me stay grounded, and encouraged my imagination to take flight.
Thank you also for the culinary stories and poetry you continue to share.
best,
Michelle Hardy