Along the way to adulthood, I acquired one six-inch chef’s knife, a dark-green glazed cast-iron pot, and the growing realization that baking and cooking were not just a sure way to end up with a pan of warm brownies or a kitchen full of the fragrance of beef stew. Busying myself in the kitchen was how I conjured the people and places I loved the most in the steam rising off the pots on the stove. And when I came down with a rare and chronic illness known as perpetual homesickness, I knew the kitchen would be my remedy.
(from My Berlin Kitchen)
I admit that I’m not big on memoirs and I’d never heard of Luisa Weiss’ blog, The Wednesday Chef, but I wanted to read My Berlin Kitchen the minute I saw Berlin in the title. My mother was born in Germany (Freudenstadt, to be exact) and lived there until she was three. Since I can’t afford to travel to Germany any time soon, I have to settle for traveling there through books, and Weiss’ foodie memoir was just the ticket.
Weiss was born in Berlin to an American father and an Italian mother. After their split, she spent part of her time with one parent, then with the other, so it’s easy to see how she would grow up feeling confused about where she belonged. Even while living in New York City, she felt the pull to Berlin, mainly because of the food and the culture — and the man who would become her husband.
Somewhere along the way, she learned to cook, and then she began to blog about the various recipes she attempted in her own kitchen. Weiss isn’t a trained chef, and that’s what makes the book appealing to me. Every chapter ends with a recipe or two, and all of the recipes are ones I would actually try. In fact, I made the Kartoffelsalat (a potato salad with a marinade of white wine vinegar, chicken broth, and Dijon mustard) for my November book club meeting. It was pretty good, but unfortunately I didn’t remember to take a picture of it before it was all gone.
I really enjoyed My Berlin Kitchen, especially the voice and tone of the narrative. Weiss comes off as very likable, and her beautiful descriptions of the cooking process and the completed dishes reminded me of The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister. I could almost hear the crackling and bubbling of the food cooking and almost smell the warm aromas. Needless to say, this book made me very hungry!
Weiss made me fall in love with Berlin, and I’ve never been there. I was captivated by her tales of crossing the border between East and West Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall, the changing of the seasons, apartment hunting adventures, and German holiday traditions. I honestly was surprised that I found a memoir I couldn’t put down. I enjoyed it so much that as soon as I turned the final page, I visited her blog so I could see what started it all and put faces to the names she mentions.
Subtitled “A Love Story (with Recipes),” My Berlin Kitchen is very much a book about love, but not just the romantic kind. Weiss writes about the love of family and friends, love for the country you call home, the love of food and cooking, and the simple joys of feeding the ones you love. There is a passion underscoring the narrative, and even if you can’t relate to her loneliness and confusion, you’ll most likely relate to the emotional connection between food and home.
Disclosure: I received My Berlin Kitchen from Viking for review.
© 2012 Anna Horner of Diary of an Eccentric. All Rights Reserved. Please do not reproduce or republish content without permission.
Beautiful review, Anna.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!
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Thanks, Beth!
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I do love memoirs and that sounds like a terrific one! I’m adding it to my wish list.
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I hope you get a chance to read this one. I think you’d like it.
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Lovely review! This sounds like a fabulous foodie memoir (I’d probably be lured into the kitchen by this one, as well). Have a warm and wonderful Thanksgiving, Anna! 🙂
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Thanks, Suko! I really need to revisit it and select another recipe.
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this review makes me want to read the book….sounds great, It also made me to check her blog…seems like the author has a grt time eeploring her culinary skills…
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I started following her blog after I finished the book. Her descriptions of the food she cooks never fail to make me hungry!
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I joined postcrossing.com and my first postcard to send was to Berlin. And I just watched the movie Unknown, set it Berlin. I feel as though the city is calling my name!
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What a coincidence! I really hope to visit Berlin some day.
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So that is what kartoffelsalat is made of. Lol, it was one of the first words in my learning German schoolbook
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Glad to help! 😉
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Anna, wishing you a wonderful Thanksgiving with the special people in your life. I count you and other bloggers in the things I am thankful for.
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Thank you, Diane! That’s so sweet. Hope you had a wonderful holiday as well.
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Sounds like a heartwarming memoir. Happy Thanksgiving!
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Thanks, Diana!
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Oh this is my kind of book, especially since it reminds you of the food descriptions in The School of Essential Ingredients. I’m picky about the memoirs I read, but I would definitely read this one.,
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I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
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This sounds like a great food memoir. It’s nice to visit the authors blog and be able to put faces with the names. Nice review.
And Happy Thanksgiving 🙂
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Thanks, Naida!
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This sounds wonderful. I adored School of Essential Ingredients, so if this is at all like that one then I’m all for reading it. Great review.
2 Kids and Tired Books
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Thanks, Holly!
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This is a book that I want to read. She sounds as if she’s very authentic and that appeals to me!
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I bet you’d enjoy this one.
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This sounds like a great read for you. I have a hit or miss thing with memoir, but generally like ones about food and the Vietnam War, so this would work for me.
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Food and German culture…I couldn’t have asked for more! Other than that, the only memoirs I read tend to be war-related.
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I hadn’t seen this one before. I do love memoirs and one that makes the cooking come alive like this one seems to is definitely one I need to read.
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I hope you get a chance to read it!
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Great review! I have this on my shelf too – I was struck by the face that you don’t see many memoirs about cooking set in Germany – most are set in Italy or France. I definitely want to read this now!
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This one also has chapters set in Italy and France!
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[…] My Berlin Kitchen by Luisa Weiss — A foodie memoir that made me fall in love with a city I’ve never seen in person! […]
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