Hunger like a thirst From food stamps to fine dining, a restaurant critic finds her place at the table

James Beard Award winner Rodell discusses the origins and evolution of her food writing career in this charming debut. "I remember the lighting, the tinkle of glasses, the swoosh of the waiters, the mesmerizing, intense luxury of it all," she writes in the opening chapter, recalling her first fine-dining experience as a nine-year-old in Melbourne. That dinner stuck with Rodell into young adulthood and eventually spurred her to work as a hostess at a trendy restaurant in North Carolina, where she'd settled with a boyfriend in her early 20s. After a stint in New York City, Rodell returned to North Carolina with her husband and baby, and began writing restaurant reviews for a local newspaper to keep the family afloat. She quickly realized she'd found her calling, and much of the narrative traces her subsequent gigs at Atlanta's Creative Loafing, L.A. Weekly, and the New York Times' Australia bureau. Throughout, Rodell proves the accuracy of her self-description­--"I'm a classic restaurant critic with a slightly filthier vocabulary and an audience in mind that was less wealthy gourmand and more ratbag line cook"­--with punchy and accessible prose. This hearty, heartfelt missive will appeal to anyone who likes to wax poetic about a memorable meal. Agent: Kitty Cowles, Cowles Literary. (May)

A meld of autobiography and culinary memoir with meat on its bones. "I'm not sure on which planet I belong," says Rodell in the closing pages of this consistently engaging chronicle of her life so far. And the statement is understandable: Though the James Beard Award--winning food writer, editor, and restaurant critic is back home in her native Australia, she spent many of her formative years finding her way and forging a career in the U.S., with which she harbors a conflicted relationship. Formerly a critic forCreative Loafing,LA Weekly, theNew York Times, andFood & Wine magazine, Rodell is today the rather less peripatetic restaurant critic at theAge in Melbourne. She cut her teeth in the restaurant trade in America and retains a keen understanding of the camaraderie (and brutalities) experienced by its workers. Often joyous, sometimes melancholy, her first book recounts a lifelong hunger for discovery and meaning, with exceptional food as both focal point and an end in itself. She provides observant capsule histories of the landscape relating to food and service, all while charting the rise of the contemporary dining craze and celebrity chefs. Also on the menu are recollections of financial struggle and sexism, marriage and motherhood, the stew of guilt and Lucullan pleasures that accompany a life on the road, the delights of cocktail culture, the origins of the American hospitality ethos, a billet-doux to Melbourne, and a reflection on the late Anthony Bourdain. Her incisive writing, which chooses to reveal the cultural and historic backstories of the cuisines and locales she reviews, is what makes her work so distinctive. But above all, it is Rodell's candor, her gift for asking so many savory, enlightening questions, that rewards the reader's palate. Structured like a good meal, or a good review, rendering a superb memoir. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.