Save Me the Plums

Trailblazing food writer and beloved restaurant critic Ruth Reichl took the job (and the risk) of a lifetime when she entered the high-stakes world of magazine publishing. Now, for the first time, she chronicles her groundbreaking tenure as editor in chief of Gourmet. "A must for any food lover... Reichl is a warm, intimate writer. She peels back the curtain to a glamorous time of magazine-making. You''ll tear through this memoir." Refinery29 When Condé Nast offered Ruth Reichl the top position at America''s oldest epicurean magazine, she declined. She was a writer, not a manager, and had no inclination to be anyone''s boss. Yet Reichl had been reading Gourmet since she was eight; it had inspired her career. How could she say no? This is the story of a former Berkeley hippie entering the corporate world and worrying about losing her soul. It is the story of the moment restaurants became an important part of popular culture, a time when the rise of the farm-to-table movement changed, forever, the way we eat. Readers will meet legendary chefs like David Chang and Eric Ripert, idiosyncratic writers like David Foster Wallace, and a colorful group of editors and art directors who, under Reichl''s leadership, transformed stately Gourmet into a cutting-edge publication. This was the golden age of print media - the last spendthrift gasp before the Internet turned the magazine world upside down. Complete with recipes, ''Save Me the Plums'' is a personal journey of a woman coming to terms with being in charge and making a mark, following a passion and holding on to her dreams - even when she ends up in a place she never expected to be.