Food writer and restaurant critic Ruth Reichl embarks on a clear-eyed, openhearted investigation of her mother's life, piecing together the journey of a woman she comes to realize she never really knew. Looking to her mother's letters and diaries, Reichl confronts the painful transition her mother made from hopeful young woman to unhappy older one and realizes the tremendous sacrifices she made to make sure her daughter's life would not be as disappointing...

The celebrated journalist, producer, and bestselling author takes us on a culinary journey from Italy to Afghanistan, from Mexico to Massachusetts, a memoir of travel, food, and personal (mis)adventure. In Vietnam, preconceptions collide with the soup; in France, lust flares with the p?at?e and dies with the dessert; in Bolivia, a very young missionary finds her food flavored with hypocrisy; while at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, an older woman...