Dear reader, consider yourself to be warned – while reading “The Upstairs Delicatessen,” you’ll undoubtedly, at some point, head to the kitchen to eat either a slice of cheese or a piece of chocolate or even feel strangely invigorated to make yourself a pasta dish or whip up a favorite cake. This excellent book by Dwight Garner has that effect on a person. It reminds us that food is the source of pleasure.
It’s refreshing that the author doesn’t discriminate between dishes as long as they bring us joy. A quick cheeseburger at Dick’s, the Seattle legendary drive-through joint, can be as satisfying (if not more) as a fifty-course meal prepared by Nathan Myhhrvold, the multimillionaire turned cookbook writer. It’s not an accident that we remember our favorite dishes from our childhood, the ones often prepared in a small kitchen, without any recipe, with an outrageous amount of butter or other fat. Food offers people more than just nourishment – it connects us with others, makes some of the best memories, and elevates our daily lives.
The book is smartly divided into chapters, i.e., “Breakfast,” “Lunch,” “Dinner,” “Shopping,” and “Drinking,” and it’s a culinary/literary memoir that reads like beautiful, witty essays. Dwight Garner has been a long-time book critic for “The New York Times,” and his writing is exceptional: friendly and chatty, as well as informative. I always enjoyed reading anecdotes about famous people’s favorite dishes and drinks.
This book sparked my interest in oysters and informed me why a martini tastes better when shaken, not stirred (obviously, James Bond knew the difference.) I also learned that Orwell thought “there should be statues memorializing cooks instead of politicians and bishops.” It sounds like a great idea!
“THE UPSTAIRS DELICATESSEN: On Eating, Reading, Reading About Eating, and Eating While Reading by Dwight Garner, FSG 2023
Infinite Books 
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