Reichl's Tender at the Bone shares a food writer's development

In Tender at the Bone, author Ruth Reichl describes the development of her life as a chef and food writer in some of the greatest restaurants, newspapers and food magazines in the country. But the details of those institutions never seem as important in the book as the details of the relationships she had in those places and in the actual food she ate and prepared there. If you plan to attend Reichl's talk at California Lectures, or to join the Arden Dimick Open Book Club in discussing Tender at the Bone as part of its fall series on food-related books (including In Defense of Food and Julie & Julia), or if you would like to discuss it with your own book club, consider the following fifteen questions.

1. In the author's note, Reichl retells a story her father always repeats.  In the story, he claims to have dropped a two-year old Ruth off alone, for the first day of pre-school, an hour before opening time. The story seems meant to convey her inborn confidence and independence. Yet Reichl tells us the event never really took place, at least with those particulars. What is the relationship between factual accuracy and truth in this book? In other books? In family stories generally?
2. "Tender at the bone" is a cooking term meaning that meat should be cooked long enough that the part near the bone is tender, neither under- nor over-done. Why is this the title of Reichl’s story?
3. How do you characterize Ruth's relationship with her mother? Do you see it the way Reichl appears to see it? What are the differences? Do you have empathy for her mother? Why or why not?
4. Reichl’s mother sends Ruth unwillingly to three years in a Montreal boarding school and later to work in a summer camp in France. In these stories, Reichl characterizes her mother as uncaring and imperious. What happens to Ruth in these places? Is her mother wrong to send her?
5. How do you interpret the behavior of Reichl’s father, who appears to be very loving and solicitous of his wife’s comfort and happiness? Is it incriminating that he does not appear to have taken a stand on his daughter’s behalf?

Go to part two.

Go to food-related book club topics.

Go to California Lectures.

Go to discussion questions for Julie & Julia.

Go to discussion questions for In Defense of Food.

Ruth Reichl in an on-stage interview about her relationship with her mother: