Save Me the Plums | Coronavirus book review #1

Save Me the Plums

My Gourmet Memoir

By: Ruth Reichl

Rating: 4 stars

Pre-COVID19 review: this book is great! Even a cameo by my beloved Jonathan Gold. I should take a master course in food writing. I love experimental eating. I love traveling to eat. I sure wish I had worked in magazines during the pre-internet heyday.

Living through the first COVID19 panic weekend (can’t wait for the next two weeks) — Holy shit. I’ve thought more than once this past weekend that I will never see Paris again. Our ability to travel, to see new places, to meet new people, and yes, to eat new foods may have just slipped out of reach for a good five to ten years.

How vulgar my pursuit of fun new restaurants, when there are people without healthcare in this country. Much like Reichl, who had not predicted that her beloved Gourmet magazine was about to close under her watch, I’m still in shock that I can’t go online and buy a ticket to Paris, or Tokyo, or Cartagena, or wherever I want to this summer. And I’m reminded that much of the world cannot do so either, but for entirely different (economic) reasons.

I have a sinking feeling that I’ve just lost something near and dear to my heart and I’m having problems processing it. Hold your friends and family near this week, it’s about to get bumpy.

This poignant quote struck me extra hard today “Luxury is best appreciated in small portions. When it becomes routine it loses its allure.”

Maybe I was just being that asshole who savors lavender lattes while the world around her is burning.