Overview

Three generations of Patricia Volk's family have been in the restaurant business. Her hallway was the colour of ballpark mustard, the living room was cocoa and the floor like Genoa salami. At Morgen's, the famous restaurant in the garment district which her father ran, she was the princess. Waiters winked at her and twirled her napkin high before draping it in her lap. Volk evokes everyday life in a New York Jewish family and what it was like to grow up around an old-fashioned, family-run restaurant. As much about families as it is about food, here are stories of eccentric uncles, gorgeous aunts and millionaire grandfathers, all of whom lived a couple of blocks from each other. There are tales of ancestors who were the first to bring pastrami to the New World and stir scallions in cream cheese; of Uncle Al, who slept with Aunt Lil for eleven years and then didn't want to marry her because she wasn't a virgin; and Aunt Ruthie, who gave the burglar breaking into her apartment a meal and a lecture. It is the portrait of a fabulous family and a charming recreation of a lost era.

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9780747561712

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Reviews

: Taut, sharp... Vibrantly textured. . . . Volk has a gift for seeing the world in a grain of salt. -- The New York Times Book Review This funny, hearbreaking book is good enough to eat. A whole lost world is conjured up here, with a vitality and love of daily life that has no time for sentimentality. -Philip Lopate My nominee for Book of the Year. . . It's funny, it's affecting, it's wise, it's New York, it's close to the bone, it's wonderfully well-written. Above all, it's about how a real family functions. -Michael M. Thomas, The New York Observer The message of Volk's loopy, generous memoir, Stuffed, is that there is no such thing as too much food or too much feeling. . . . Stuffed is just what a good restaurant meal should be-soaked in atmosphere, full of strong flavors, handsome on the plate. -- Los Angeles Times Unnervingly delightful. . . . In these gorgeous, generous pages . . . the sweetness never ends. -The Miami Herald

Patricia Volk grew up within a family of restaurateurs in New York, and in this enjoyable memoir she has drawn together memories of her family and their lives spanning one hundred years, giving a flavour not only of the restaurant business but of Jewish family life and customs over that period. The book begins and ends with chapters on Volk's relationships with her father and sister and each intervening chapter concerns a different relative, moving chronologically from the ancestor who brought pastrami to the New World to the aunt who fed and lectured the burglar who broke into her apartment. Volk's relationship with her father was especially strong and the final two chapters, describing his illness and death from leukaemia, are extremely moving. Each chapter is named after a foodstuff that conjures up the society of the time and the relation in question. For her grandmother it's a sturgeon, since Volk always took a sturgeon with her on her regular six-hour flights to visit her in Florida; she was never sure whether her grandmother was happier to see her or the fish! This is a delightful book of reminiscences, bringing together tradition, family relationships, food and history together to form a satisfying whole. (Kirkus UK)

Author Information

Patricia Volk is the author of one novel and two collections of short stories. She is a contributor to the NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE, THE NEW YORKER, PLAYBOY, GQ and was a weekly columnist for NEW YORK NEWSDAY. She lives in New York City.

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