Reviews
Buttermilk Graffiti: A Chef's Journey to Discover America's New Melting-Pot Cuisine by Edward Lee
cook_memorial_public_library's review against another edition
4.0
A 2019 staff favorite recommended by Jean. Check our catalog: https://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore/search/C__Sbuttermilk%20graffiti%20lee__Orightresult__U?lang=eng&suite=gold
julibug86's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting concept and I loved his first cookbook (Smoke + Pickles), so I gave this a try. Overall I think Chef Lee could use a brutal editor to tell him when his writing becomes too flowery. The repetition of this book gets mundane as well. And, he keeps saying that he takes a picture with various people, but then he doesn't include any of these pictures in his book. Don't tell me about the picture if you're not going to show it.
msgabbythelibrarian's review against another edition
5.0
"Our food reflects who we are as a people"
What a beautiful way to sum up this book. I have been familiar with Edward Lee since watching him on Top Chef; I have read his cookbook "Smoke and Pickles." But this book--part recipe book, part expose of American regions, part memoir--gave me a greater respect for this man not only as a chef, but as a human being.
"There is good food to be discovered everywhere. All it takes is an adventurous palate and an inquisitive mind. You can link both to the foods that sit in your memories.....It can link two things together that you might not have thought belonged together (buttermilk and graffiti). It is an adventure worth taking. It is a dish worth tasting." (Lee, 2018, pg. 310)
I now want to go explore the hidden haunts in cities; I want to truly sample the cuisine of the culture. I want to go to Cafe Du Monde. I want to go to Louisville. And I want to keep the recipes of my heritage alive. Yet make them uniquely mine. I am a melting pot =)
What a beautiful way to sum up this book. I have been familiar with Edward Lee since watching him on Top Chef; I have read his cookbook "Smoke and Pickles." But this book--part recipe book, part expose of American regions, part memoir--gave me a greater respect for this man not only as a chef, but as a human being.
"There is good food to be discovered everywhere. All it takes is an adventurous palate and an inquisitive mind. You can link both to the foods that sit in your memories.....It can link two things together that you might not have thought belonged together (buttermilk and graffiti). It is an adventure worth taking. It is a dish worth tasting." (Lee, 2018, pg. 310)
I now want to go explore the hidden haunts in cities; I want to truly sample the cuisine of the culture. I want to go to Cafe Du Monde. I want to go to Louisville. And I want to keep the recipes of my heritage alive. Yet make them uniquely mine. I am a melting pot =)
lordgiovanni's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
3.25
robotswithpersonality's review against another edition
Part travelogue, a smattering of memoir, a handful of recipes, but mostly an immigrant story anthology told through food.
Gorgeous ambience, serious nostalgia, taken through the author's past as we're taken through different people's pasts, different group's and town's histories, and different cuisine.
Striving for understanding, the author is conflicted, ever-questioning about straddling a divide of preserving cultural cuisine and revolutionizing it, at the risk of appropriating and/or eventually wiping out tradition, while acknowledging that no culture's cuisine stays the same throughout time.
Despite the subtitle, this narrative champions less the 'melting pot' model of assimilation where everything blends together and becomes unrecognizable in its origins; a better metaphor would be a dish where different cultural influences combined together, help bring out the distinct flavours in each, rather than one overwhelming the other or both surrendering to a pre-established 'taste'.
Lee seems like a friendly, inquisitive guy who both experiences/has experienced racism/prejudice/suspicion as a Korean-American, and recognizes where he needs to interrogate his own preconceptions/possible racism when it comes to other ethnicities encountered in his epicurean explorations.
Surprised how many times I burst out into delighted giggles, in large part thanks to the author's self-effacing humour, humble non-sequitors.
⚠️ Fellow vegans beware: while there are vegetables, fruits, breads, pasta/noodles and pastries described with relish, this an omnivorous account including many animal parts, and a chicken meeting an untimely end. 🫣
Gorgeous ambience, serious nostalgia, taken through the author's past as we're taken through different people's pasts, different group's and town's histories, and different cuisine.
Striving for understanding, the author is conflicted, ever-questioning about straddling a divide of preserving cultural cuisine and revolutionizing it, at the risk of appropriating and/or eventually wiping out tradition, while acknowledging that no culture's cuisine stays the same throughout time.
Despite the subtitle, this narrative champions less the 'melting pot' model of assimilation where everything blends together and becomes unrecognizable in its origins; a better metaphor would be a dish where different cultural influences combined together, help bring out the distinct flavours in each, rather than one overwhelming the other or both surrendering to a pre-established 'taste'.
Lee seems like a friendly, inquisitive guy who both experiences/has experienced racism/prejudice/suspicion as a Korean-American, and recognizes where he needs to interrogate his own preconceptions/possible racism when it comes to other ethnicities encountered in his epicurean explorations.
Surprised how many times I burst out into delighted giggles, in large part thanks to the author's self-effacing humour, humble non-sequitors.
⚠️ Fellow vegans beware: while there are vegetables, fruits, breads, pasta/noodles and pastries described with relish, this an omnivorous account including many animal parts, and a chicken meeting an untimely end. 🫣
justjoshinreads's review against another edition
4.0
Buttermilk Graffiti by Edward Lee. This was an unexpected journey through immigrant culture via food. The author explored restaurants large and small all over the country, meeting chefs, cooks, fishermen, distillers and consumers of food and drink. Some were friendly and open, some notsomuch. I admire his tenacity in every situation. He is curious and intrepid in the pursuit of the culture of food. He travels all over, making conversation, probing for recipes and insight, hoping to be invited into the circle of trust in many kitchens.
I am not a foodie by any stretch, though I do like food. Also, I don’t enjoy cooking or experimenting in the kitchen, I can barely manage to feed my family the required number of times each week, and it’s essentially the same 6-7 things on repeat, so it’s unlikely I’d ever make any of the included recipes. Many of them sounded unique and delicious.
This was an interesting read, I feel like I learned about immigrant culture in the US from an enthusiastic and unique point of view. I wasn’t familiar with Edward Lee’s previous book (or restaurant or TV notoriety) before this, but he seems like an interesting person with an insatiable appetite for food, both philosophically and literally. 4/5 stars ⭐️
I am not a foodie by any stretch, though I do like food. Also, I don’t enjoy cooking or experimenting in the kitchen, I can barely manage to feed my family the required number of times each week, and it’s essentially the same 6-7 things on repeat, so it’s unlikely I’d ever make any of the included recipes. Many of them sounded unique and delicious.
This was an interesting read, I feel like I learned about immigrant culture in the US from an enthusiastic and unique point of view. I wasn’t familiar with Edward Lee’s previous book (or restaurant or TV notoriety) before this, but he seems like an interesting person with an insatiable appetite for food, both philosophically and literally. 4/5 stars ⭐️
stevenlink17's review against another edition
A good meditation on good food from around the world in America - and the meaning of authenticity and tradition. Every chapter made me hungry!
multivitamim's review against another edition
5.0
A lovely travelogue eating journal across America, focusing on lesser visited food destinations.