Gift List
Kathleen Flinn, author of THE SHARPER YOUR KNIFE, THE LESS YOU CRY, includes EGGPLANT on her shortlist of recommended food books to give as gifts. About EGGPLANT, she says, "One of my favorite compilations of food writing in recent memory." Thanks, Kathleen! >>see the list

ALONE IN THE AIRPORT WITH AN EGGPLANT
The book is being sold in the bookstores in San Francisco International Airport and O'Hare International Airport. How rad!! Please email jenni[at]aloneinthekitchen[dot]com with other airport (or airplane!) sightings.

God bless BookCourt
I just want to thank my local independent bookstore, BookCourt, for selling the heck out of ALONE. After two glorious weeks at #2 on their weekly paperback bestseller list--sandwiched between Obama and Michael Pollan--it fell off the list. But now it's back at #10. >>see the list

The paperback is available!
in bookstores near you, featuring the same beautiful cover plus some praise. What a good beach read. What a good gift. Put it in your tote bag. Pair it with a cocktail.

A new "Best Books" list
THE WEEK magazine asked Phoebe Damrosch, author of SERVICE INCLUDED, to pick her "best books" in the category of food writing. She chose ALONE and five other books (including Calvin Trillin's TUMMY TRILOGY, Laurie Colwin's HOME COOKING, and Anthony Bourdain's KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL). She called ALONE: "Another collection of great writers, this time talking about the foods that they eat alone--whether the solitude is chosen or not. Nora Ephron eats buttery mashed potatoes in bed; Jami Attenberg trades cocaine for room service; Jonathan Ames once poisoned himself on three fried eggs." Thanks, Phoebe!

Cheers from Chi-town
The CHICAGO TRIBUNE has just weighed in with a review that calls ALONE: "A riveting book of essays . . . [It] will inspire readers to reconsider their own food foibles, and free them of any guilt over obsessions with, say, rainbow sherbet or Cheerios. Instead, they'll be reminded to appreciate the way food can soften a blow, boost an ego, create a comfort zone, provide a needed distraction or perform any number of magic acts, all in the service of a solitary eater, whether the solitude is welcome or not." >>read complete review

O Canada
The book is getting some terrific coverage in Canada. The MONTREAL GAZETTE calls it "delightful" and the TORONTO STAR says: "It's a great topic. . . . Even those of us who are inclined to treat ourselves, loved ones and friends to over-the-top celebratory dinners have vivid memories of standing over a sink, probably in a pair of track pants, eating out of a can."

Read the complete >> MONTREAL GAZETTE review.

Read the complete >>TORONTO STAR review

More exciting news from Book Sense
Book Sense, the organization that represents independent bookstores across the country, has picked ALONE for its 2007 Book Sense Highlight List. Huge thanks to Book Sense and all the independent booksellers who have been so incredibly supportive of the book. >>read the list

ALONE is a "Best Book of 2007"
The editors of Amazon.com have just released their "Best Books of 2007" list, and ALONE is #5 in the Food Lit category. >>check it out

ALONE's YouTube debut
In my internet wanderings I came across this charming and somewhat hilarious video clip by an enthusiastic fan of the book. I dig it. She starts talking about ALONE at 1:25 into the video, but you won't want to fast-forward. >>watch now

A shout out from Gael Greene
Food legend Gael Greene has written a nice blog post about ALONE. She singles out the stories by Paula Wolfert and Marcella Hazan for special praise ("so very revealing"), and she closes by saying: "Be good to yourself and buy it." >>read complete post (scroll down)

An interview on A CHEF'S TABLE
On Saturday, September 15, I did a fun interview with Jim Coleman, the host of Philadelphia Public Radio WHYY's wonderful food show "A Chef's Table." My interview is about 40 minutes into the show. Click to listen.

Blog the Hamptons
I guest blogged for a week on Serious Eats as a Hamptons correspondent. And the book was highlighted as part of their Cook The Book feature. >>read the first post

An interview with Leonard Lopate
On Friday, August 17, contributors Laura Dave, Holly Hughes, and I sat down with Leonard Lopate on New York Public Radio WNYC to talk about the pleasures and perils of cooking for one and dining alone. Click to listen.

A great WALL STREET JOURNAL review
"In this amusing collection of food-based remembrances, 26 writers cover aspects of cooking or eating alone that range from the comic to the tragic, the raunchy to the refined. . . . A balanced literary buffet, supplemented by practical recipes and seasoned with whimsy." >>read complete review

And the LA TIMES ran another terrific review the other day: "Many of these essays are funny and self-deprecating. . . . The book is also full of whimsy and ingenuity. . . . There is a happy absence of McKitchens here: The scale is small, the mood inventive. Loneliness appears infrequently and only as one of many ingredients." >>read complete review

PEOPLE calls the book "delicious"
"'Cooking for one reveals man at his weirdest,' asserts Laurie Colwin, one of the writers whose essays about cooking (or eating) for one make up this delicious anthology . . . Like dipping into a box of truffles . . . a treat."

And check out this funny photo from the BOSTON PHOENIX. Thanks to everyone who came out to the Brookline Booksmith last night and helped make the event such a success.

Wonderful news from indie bookstores
EGGPLANT is "on the rise" according to the Book Sense National Bestseller List, where it debuts at #36. Thanks to all the booksellers who are supporting it! >>see complete list

It's #2 on the BookCourt Bestseller List in Brooklyn, NY, for the second week in a row. >>see complete list

And it's #12 on the Politics & Prose Bestseller List in Washington, DC. >>see complete list

Some sweet ink in USA Today
"The book is filled with tempting recipes for the solitary diner, but the collection of essays also made me realize I'm not the only one who wonders if carrots can be a main course. Not by a long shot...." >>read complete review

A fun feature in NEW YORK magazine
"After editing 'Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant,' a new collection of writers' reminiscences of dining alone, Jenni Ferrari-Adler submitted herself to a self-conscious New Yorker's nightmare: a sometimes-nerve-racking, potentially humiliating, and even, once or twice, kind-of-fun week of tables for one in some of the city's most bustling restaurants. Then she took notes...." >>read complete feature

Two fantastic new interviews
FOODCANDY and HOOKED ON HEAT have just posted interviews. FOODCANDY says: "My minuscule apartment, 25 rue Jean-Violette, overlooked the quiet city of Geneva. It was a tiny attic transformed into a bedroom and a small kitchen. The early morning smell climbed to the sixth floor from the French bakery across the street and the afternoon was filled with flavors from a Chilean grocery. The kitchen was used in many creative ways, including the uniquely special moments when I cooked for myself...." >>read complete interview

HOOKED ON HEAT says:
"One of the most common questions I am often asked is, 'What do I cook for myself when I'm home alone?' With my husband away on regular business trips that takes him across the ocean, it's not surprising to note that I spend a good chunk of the year eating my meals in solitude. What does surprise most my friends, however, is how well I eat during those times. Sometimes, even better that when I'm entertaining a large group of people. The main reason behind this being that when I'm on my own, I tend to experiment and play around more...." >>read complete interview

A terrific review in the LA TIMES
"What do you do when the fridge is full but there's no one but yourself to cook for? 'Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant' explores this tantalizing question in 26 sharply written essays penned by food critics and couch potatoes alike. But what makes this book so arresting is not its rigorous examination of ratatouille recipes, but the clever way it arrives at the issue of how people deal with being alone...." >>read complete review

THE WASHINGTON POST loves it
"Delightful . . . Satisfying . . . For anyone who lives and cooks alone, or remembers such days vividly, there's plenty here to savor." >>read complete review

Grandma Evelyn loves it even more
After inspecting an advance copy of the book, Grandma Evelyn left me a voicemail that was too sweet and funny to keep to myself. More than anything, it's a ringing endorsement for the wonderful production department at Riverhead Books!

Click here to listen

ALONE is an August 2007 Book Sense Pick. Thank you Jan Sloan!
"Twenty-six different contributors (some well-known food writers, others better know for their fiction) talk about their experiences of cooking and dining alone, each exploring the guilty pleasure of not having to explain one's sometimes bizarre choice of foods. Interlaced with recipes, this is great fun to read." —Jan Sloan, The King's English, Salt Lake City, UT

A pair of great interviews
Both GOTHAMIST and NOT EATING OUT IN NEW YORK have posted interviews. GOTHAMIST: "Jenni Ferrari-Adler has held many jobs—egg-seller, literary agency assistant, reader for The Paris Review—but her latest accomplishment is as the editor of a mouth-watering anthology of essays entitled 'Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant'...." >>read complete interview

NOT EATING OUT IN NEW YORK:
"Hey there, lonely cooks: It's our time to shine. Today, Riverhead releases the anthology 'Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant: Confessions of Cooking for One and Dining Alone,' edited by Jenni Ferrari-Adler. Judging from its impressive collection of witty, confessional and highly entertaining stories, the kitchen may just be today's literary equivalent of what the bedroom was in the 1970s...." >>read complete interview

"A must-have addition to any food writing collection"
"The stories are lovingly and deliciously assembled, confessional while providing guidance. They are at times celebratory, deeply lonely, amusing or shameful and almost all provide a recipe. Ferrari-Adler admits that she imagined this collection as 'a friendly presence in my kitchen for those nights when I cooked for myself,' and it is. 'Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant' is a must-have addition to any food writing collection." —Jaime Jordan, THE VILLAGER >>read complete review

Great reviews from great bloggers!
MEANWHILE, BACK IN THE KITCHEN says:
"Delightfully entertaining . . . perfect summer reading." >>read complete post

AMUSE BOUCHE says:
"Jenni Ferrari-Adler has gathered a great collection of writers from M.F.K. Fisher, Marcella Hazan and the late Laurie Colwin to Laurie's daughter Rosa Jurjevics, Nora Ephron and Haruki Murakami to create her vision of a book that speaks to the solo diner. I love that these stories speak of the repetition a solitary diner often craves like making the same dish, night after night ... Perfect with a glass of Rose and a sunbeam anywhere, Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant is delicious reading for the food inclined whether you cook for one or for many." >>read complete post

WALKER NEW YORK says:
"I've just finished reading a collection of essays about what we feed ourselves when there's no one around, Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant. I admit I devoured it once I got my hands on it; it's almost voyeuristic to read about these private dining moments (in front of the TV? At the kitchen or dining room table? With some reading material or the computer?) It's so stripped-down; I feel like you could extrapolate a lot about a person by how he or she eats when alone." >>read complete post

THE WEDNESDAY CHEF says:
"Sandwiched between Laurie Colwin's famous 'Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant' and Rosa Jurjevics's 'Food Nomad' (Jurjevics is Colwin's daughter), the essays range from the strictly utilitarian (Marcella Hazan) to the unabashedly literary (Haruki Murakami) ... Each essay is a pleasantly voyeuristic snapshot, like looking into someone's grocery basket." >>read complete post

Oscar Villalon on The San Francisco Chronicle's CULTURE BLOG says:
"Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant: Confessions of Cooking for One and Dining Alone does feature a couple of locals: Anneli Rufus (author of The Farewell Chronicles and Party of One) and Paula Wolfert (cookbook author and winner of James Beard and Julia Child awards, among many other honors). All sort of single-living cuisine seems to be represented here -- from grilled cheese-and-ham sandwiches and Saltines and SpaghettiOs to even fancier fare (I kid, though not really. I could live off of PB&Js if certain people I'm married to were cool and would let me, but they don't, so I can't)."

LINDY'S TOAST says:
"In addition to the excellent introductory essay by editor Jenni Ferrari-Adler, there are contributions by Colin Harrison, Holly Hughes, Ann Pachett, Nora Ephron, Marcella Hazan, and many others, diverse and tempting, about the strange and fascinating things that human beings do and think about when cooking and/or dining alone. I do believe this very close-to-the-bone behavior reveals quite a bit about the kind of creatures we are, various, strange and intriguing. What an inspired idea, and there are recipes." >>read complete post

BAKING AND BOOKS says:
"Eating alone, whether at a restaurant or at home, is the theme of this book, in which the author attempts to answer the question: how do we feed ourselves when we're alone, when there are no one else's needs to take into consideration? Each writer interprets this question in their own way, with some lauding the versatility of beans and others reminiscing about spaghetti . . . and in an act of profound thoughtfulness many essays are accompanied by recipes. In the end I couldn't help but devour this book." >>read complete post

LUCULLIAN DELIGHTS says:
"I enjoyed it immensely . . . I will reread this book again and again, just like I do with certain old favorites of mine . . . There are so many different lives and tastes in this book that everyone should at least be able to identify with one of them, unless you have a split personality like me and somehow recognize yourself in all of them." >>read complete post

GLORIOUS FOOD AND WINE says:
"If you have any inclination to look into the secret solitary kitchen life of some great writers, then read this book. It is entertaining, it is beautifully written, and you'll also find the occasional recipe." >>read complete post

A nice profile in METRO newspapers in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia
"What's worse: being solo in a bustling restaurant or sitting down at your own dining room table, alone? Before you answer, consider why eating sans company should even have negative connotations. Jenni Ferrari-Adler has a theory: Meals are about being social and deriving comfort from others. But she's just as good at debunking that theory, which is what she's done in her new anthology, 'Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant' . . ." >>read complete profile

MORE magazine picks ALONE as a "hot summer read"
"Editor Jenni Ferrari-Adler asked 26 food and fiction writers what they liked to eat when dining alone. The result is this juicy collection of solo dining habits from Ann Patchett (a sleeve of Saltines suits her), Dan Chaon (a spicy chili), Nora Ephron (she chooses mashed potatoes with cream, butter, salt, and pepper), and more. Make this entertaining book your companion the next time you're facing dinner alone and need a good excuse to fix your favorite comfort food." >>read complete article