The Alice B. Toklas Cook Book Paperback – August 10, 2010

I have a lot of food allergies, so I read cookbooks more for the entertainment value than for the useful knowledge. I truly enjoyed reading The Alice B. Toklas Cook Book. Aside from the recipes, this is a truly fascinating memoir of life in France from World War I through World War II. It's an account of how people lived: What they ate and the cooks who cooked it. I re - learned that the French ate a lot of seafood. And remembered that just about all of a butchered animal was eaten in one form of another. The food choices that were available far exceed our choices at the supermarket. Mutton, wild boar, pigeon, rabbit, duck...as well as shellfish and fresh water and saltwater fishes. This is a "keeper" for me, because it's field guide to the history of culinary France.The profiles of their hired help also was, well, these were real people. Some of them were from other regions: Austria, Indo - China, Swiss, and the Basque region. Any one of these people would have a story to tell in their own right. But it's evident that the French were never just French. There are people on the move, people bringing their cultures, foods, ways of cooking to the table. I enjoyed this book...it's a travelogue, a time capsule, a food history book.Also included in the book is a description of Ms. Toklas' garden in Bilignin, where she and Gertrude Stein summered for 14 years. It's a great account of the fruits and vegetables that she grew.I have the 1984 edition. The recipes have been Americanized, so ingredients are given by volume, not by weight, and oven temperatures are in degrees Fahrenheit. (350, 400, etc.) The recipes are doable. There's a small cake recipe called Visitandines that I want to try. (It's curious for a cake because there's no sugar in it..I searched for other recipes and most have sugar. Is it an error that never got corrected, or is it authentic? Hard to tell).I really liked this book. It's a great read on many levels.

Great book. Great recipes.Arrived quickly and very well packed.

The recipes are quite suspect--I do not, for one second, believe that you could combine the ingredients Ms. Toklas recommends and, applying the techniques she describes, produce anything edible--I have cooked for a living, and can assure you it is quite unlikely that most of the recipes are on the level. Nevertheless, the book is a treasure, and I refer to it quite often, simply for her eccentric wit, and her enchanting stories of adventures with Ms. Stein and the Lost Generation. Not only is there chic and glamour, but quiet French village life during the Nazi occupation, oozes off the pages in lavender, moonlight and rosy nostalgia. I visited their adjoining plots at Pere Lachaise in Paris--remarkably, Alice's information is inscribed on the back of Stein's grey granite monument, and Alice's space, next to the crushed white marble covering Gertrude, does not even have grass growing over it. I love this book and it's brilliant author.

My favorite is the orange chicken. I have been making it for years and now I have the original recipe. Really fresh tasting and good even though I was lacking some ingredients.

Ive been cooking with _Joy of Cooking_ for a long time now. _Joy_ makes reference to a chapter in this book, "Murder in the Kitchen," as a sort of primer on how to 'murder' a carp in the kitchen before cooking. I decided, on a whim, to buy the book.I had no idea that having this new cookbook would be so rewarding!Alice Toklas has some INCREDIBLE recipes in here (Scheherezade Melon being a favorite!), all of which should be tried and enjoyed.Furthermore, this book contains recipes you simply wont find in other, newer, cookbooks. My girlfriend really summed this book up by suggesting that the recipes in this book are the recipes you know exist -- but are being passed from grandmother to granddaughter; you simply dont get these unless youre in that circle of people.This cookbook is your way in to exquisite dishes that were prepared for the likes of Gertrude Stein, Hemmingway, Picasso, and Matisse.That, and where else are you going to find a recipe for Hashish Fudge?This book has my whole-hearted, overwhelming approval.

Not just a cook book; it's full of wonderful short vignettes, experiences from the life of Gertrude Stein & Alice, the visits of artists and writers and what was served. Many of the recipes include spirits so I assume there were many parties. It's a fun read and well written allowing you to enter into the life and times from a very interesting age, plus the dishes sound delicious. Can't wait to serve them along with a story of how they came about.

I believe that this is one of the best French cookbooks of all time. Very old, traditional recipes explained in a way that makes even the more advanced ones seem doable. She also includes recipes from her youth in America and tells how she came across the recipe for Haschich Fudge. The stories interwoven are captivating, especially about the society she and Gertrude Stein kept, and their efforts during WWI as volunteers. In this respect it is a fascinating historical document. It is written as if she is speaking to you, and her speech is very blunt, to the point and quietly humorous. Very enjoyable to read.

A reasonably interesting read about her life with Stein but not well written and as a cookbook, useless.

Not just a cookbook. The narrative is brilliant and tells the story of life in the 20th century, told through food.

The reader feels like an invisible friend at Alice's side, following the recipes and then enjoying the dishes, around the table with Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Wilder, Matisse, Picasso .....

Excelente lectura y entrega rapidísima

This classic of 20th century food lit appears every few years and righfully so. First published in 1954 by Alice B. Toklas, the life partner of Gertrude Stein, established Alice as a writer in her own write and made her world-famous(once again) with her "Haschich Fudge" aka Alice B. Toklas brownies! This recipe, which was not included in the first American edition, but was included in the British edition, does appear in this book. It's more than a cookbook, it's an affectionate remembrance by someone who knew and was known by some of the artistic giants of the 20th century.

Very good reading though the receipes are out of date.