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READ! Cookbooks and other reviews
NC chefs, Mary Poppins and Hunters: A few new and old books that tantalize the taste buds for all walks of life BY Gwenyfar Rohler ● Devour columnist, freelance writer and business owner of Old Books on Front Street Chefs of the Coast: Restaurants and Recipes From the Carolina Coast John E. Batchelor John F. Blair Publishers, 2015 (350 pages)
Founded in 1954, John Blair Publisher is dedicated to regional writers and topics. Travel guides and cookbooks that celebrate the South, and North Carolina especially, have long been stalwarts in their catalog. Building upon 60 years of success, their latest offering, “Chefs of the Coast” by Greensboro News and Record food critic John E. Batchelor, combines the elements of both a travel guide and a cookbook. As the name implies, the book travels down the coast, beginning with Elizabeth City and meandering to Southport. Each section features a chef and restaurant, accompanied by recipes. Batchelor notes that his earlier work, “Chefs of the Mountains,” inspired much feedback from his readership. Observations that the recipes were very complicated for home cooks ranked high on the list. Batchelor assures that he selected more home-cookfriendly recipes for this volume. Though I have yet to put them to the test, personally (I have a kitchen renovation under way, at present), most appear to list ingredients that are available at a regular grocery store or farmers’ market and the steps are not exceedingly difficult. (Browning and frying are pretty accessible to even the most inexperienced home cook.) As a travel book, it is pretty inspiring: filled with quaint little restaurants and exciting personalities you just want to meet and absorb into your life. Reading it reminds me how much I want to go back to the Outer Banks and inspires new itineraries I would not have known otherwise. Though I have to say, when he gets to Wilmington, the book really comes alive for me. From Richard Martin at Cape Fear Seafood Company to our local celebrity chef, Keith Rhodes of Catch, Batchelor makes our culinary landscape come alive. Names that are constantly in the press: James Doss, Jameson Chavez and Shawn Wellersdick become three-dimensional people with families, interests and pasts; all this paints a picture of their food. It is a wonderful concept. The book is intended to be part travel book, part cookbook, part memoir, and part journalism. Oddly, this is both its strength and weakness. It may seem compelling and interesting, blending different interests and tastes; however, Batchelor can’t seem to make up 38 DEVOUR | SUMMER 2015
his mind as to whether he is writing reviews or legitimate journalism. The biography section of Chef Mark Anthony of The Metropolis Restaurant is presented in almost entirely oral-history form, as one long block quote with no context. Other entries are mostly narration by Batchelor with very few quotes from the subject. It makes for a book that doesn’t quite blend or fuse but is nonetheless an interesting read. Batchelor’s style is an odd combination of academic writing and modern journalism. But for me food writing always boils down to one question: Do I get hungry reading it? The answer