The Table Comes First

Family, France, and the Meaning of Food

By: Adam Gopnik

Narrated by: Adam Gopnik

Multiple award-winning author Adam Gopnik has written for the New Yorker since 1986. In this work, Gopnik charts America’s transformation from being simply aware of what they eat to being obsessive about it. This fascinating culinary journey will transport listeners from 18th-century France and the origin of America’s popular modern tastes to the kitchens of the White House and beyond.

©2011 Adam Gopnik (P)2011 Recorded Books, LLC

Beautifully written, uneven content

Adam Gopnik's writing comes close to poetry at times, and he's an excellent reader of his own work. I enjoyed this book when he was talking about the big issues related to food: what it means, how it relates to who we are as a family or society. But when he got into the details of particular restaurants and cuisine, it felt a little nerdy and boring. So overall, the book had sections of great eloquence and meaning, with occasional dull patches in between.

The Debbie Downer of Food Writing

Narrator seems to know it all and find fault with it all. Is snipey a word? It should be as that is how he sounds. Like a sniper picking off historical and contemporary figures, fashions, and foods. I’ve read that he is knowledgeable and a popular writer but I found his writing and narration like an arrogant, flatulent old man; farting on and on and on...