Robert Sietsema

As a former resident of NYC, I am a sucker for any book with that name in the title. This one is written by the former restaurant critic of the Village Voice and a long time NYC resident. The premise is that you can describe the city by telling the tale of 12 foods (and one dessert) that can be found in NYC restaurants - a questionable feat but an admirable one.

The book turns out to be more than that however, encompassing history, anthropology, sociology, politics, memoir, travelogue. The dishes featured range from pastrami and pizza to more obscure ones like cuy. Cuy turns out to be a small South American rodent and Sietsema's description of his first meal of this delicacy is not for the faint of heart. We read about his travels to Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta) in search of thiebou djenn and learn that pastrami "although not originally a specifically Jewish food, is exclusively Jewish in the US (and unknown in other English-speaking Jewish communities) and well as the technical difference between pastrami and corned beef.

It was a very interesting read. My only quibble is that he claims that Baltimore (where I currently reside, but in the county, not the city) is more of a Southern city than a Northern one. I think that is pure NYC snobbishness (please think of the famous Saul Steinberg New Yorker cover, a poster of which hangs in my living room). But also he fails to mention that other cities have their own version of the Black and White cookie (the dessert featured) - in Baltimore it is Berger's which I think is just a tasty excuse for chocolate fudge frosting.… (meer)