Profiles from the Kitchen: What Great Cooks Have Taught Us about Ourselves and Our Food

In Profiles from the Kitchen, Charles A. Baker-Clark offers a collection of portraits of well-known culinary figures who have worked in different ways to shape our relationship with food. Despite their diverse personalities, backgrounds, and interests, Baker-Clark’s subjects are a testament to the fact that both cooking and eating are endeavors well worth learning and sustaining. Profiles from the Kitchen includes well-known food writers such as M.F.K. Fisher, Eugene Walter, Elizabeth David, and John T. Edge; famous cooks such as Julia Child and James Beard; and contemporary chefs such as Rick Bayless and Susan Spicer. Each individual has offered different views of food and cooking and has encouraged us to appreciate good cooking while considering other facets of our food, including how food relates to issues of social justice, spirituality, and sustainability.