Mise en Place
Memoir of a Girl Chef
by Marisa Mangani
This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
Send NetGalley books directly to your Kindle or Kindle app
1
To read on a Kindle or Kindle app, please add kindle@netgalley.com as an approved email address to receive files in your Amazon account. Click here for step-by-step instructions.
2
Also find your Kindle email address within your Amazon account, and enter it here.
Pub Date Aug 09 2022 | Archive Date Nov 08 2022
Talking about this book? Use #MiseenPlace #NetGalley. More hashtag tips!
Description
Disadvantages be damned, I would be a chef someday, and if I had to run into the side of a house to do it, so be it.
Mise en Place is the rollicking memoir of Marisa Mangani, a talented chef who takes readers on her journey through the mostly men’s club of restaurant kitchens as she travels from Hawaii to Oregon, New Orleans, Canada, Australia, and Florida.
Along the way she shares raw revelations: abuse at the hands of her stepfather, stories of love and loss, the pain of stuttering, a great passion for cuisine, and the heady sensations associated with food and motherhood.
Not just a gifted chef, Mangani is a very accomplished writer who brings us into her world with brio and humor. She holds nothing back, as she describes her struggles for acceptance in her field and her stumbles and hard-won successes along the way.
Mise en Place will appeal to all who love food and restaurants, but it’s also a vivid travelogue of the places the author has lived. Mangani has a beautifully hedonistic take on food, wine, and life—and her intense descriptions bring readers front and center into her world as she tries to carve out a living.
Her details of the inner workings of restaurant kitchens are quite enlightening. If readers don’t already know how hard the hospitality business can be on anyone who works in it, not just chefs, but owners, managers, servers, and dishwashers, they will once they’ve walked in Mangani’s shoes.
Advance Praise
“Mangani charts a deep dive through the roots of our modern American food obsession with a highly personal tale of memory, character, flavor, and place.”
—Ian McNulty, Food Writer, The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate
“A foodie from the minute she first spat out her grandmother’s lima beans, Marisa Mangani was destined to become a chef—even if she didn’t know such a thing existed. Swirling with tastes and scents, her memoir chronicles an unconventional life, a life beginning in near-poverty and forged in a succession of kitchens and restaurants. The kitchen became Mangani’s sandbox, the place where she discovered her calling and confidence. ‘Good food always gave me hope for better times,’ she writes. Like a good hollandaise sauce, Mise en Place: Memoir of a Girl Chef satisfies the palate.”
—Pam Schmid, Nonfiction Editor, Sleet Magazine
“Mise en Place: Memoir of a Girl Chef is a bitingly honest view of a life lived in oyster bars, fish camps, and restaurant kitchens. Flavorful, rich, and evocative, Marisa Mangani’s memoir offers readers not just tales of food and cooking, but a provocative examination of the choices we make and the pasts that might have been.”
—Dinty W. Moore, Author of To Hell with It
“Readers of Gabrielle Hamilton and David Chang will devour this memoir about Marisa Mangani's journey to become a chef. What began as a way to make a living became a passion for Marisa. Mise en Place takes us through kitchens from Maui to New Orleans to Oregon, and back again, with endless colorful characters and exciting adventures along the way. If you have ever wondered what is happening behind the kitchen doors at your local restaurant, this is the book for you.”
—Amy Fish, Author of I Wanted Fries with That
"Mangani's stories will elicit a range of emotions from sympathy to laughter, and her love for food is infectious, as her descriptions bring it to life, from the frozen lima beans of her youth to wonders like chilled melon soup with pink peppercorn crème fraiche."
— Editor's Pick Review from Booklife by Publisher's Weekly
Available Editions
| EDITION | Ebook |
| ISBN | 9781632995650 |
| PRICE | $8.99 (USD) |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Donna R, Reviewer
Now this is a book any lover of food will enjoy. A memoir, a story of life in the food industry, an adventure.
I devoured this book as it was so interesting and well written, you could feel it, you were there and you could taste it. As with any good book, fiction or non-fiction, there were some twists and turns, there were moments of emotion and there were moments that took you to a place, a meal that you loved and enjoyed.
A great book of food, travel, people, places, life, good times and bad times. It is a story of real life in a tough industry but it was also a very entertaining read.
Amy A, Reviewer
I enjoyed this book about an ambitious young woman who was determined to escape her not great home life and use her passion for cooking to become the best chef she could.
I especially enjoyed the portions of the book where Marisa described the food she was making, and eating. Spanning from Hawaii, to New Orleans, to Australia, this was an interesting look into restaurant life.
Thank you Netgalley, and River Grove books for the ARC!
Account D, Reviewer
I really appreciate Marisa Mangani’s telling of her life in the kitchen.
Mise en Place gave me a glimpse into New Orleans cuisine, and her all around life that was enjoyable to read. As a 30-something (closer to 40) woman who wishes she’d followed her dream and gone to culinary school, getting a look behind the curtain is always fascinating to me.
3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.
Readers who liked this book also liked:
Riki Wilchins, Clare Howell
Biographies & Memoirs, LGBTQIAP+, Parenting & Families
Adapted by Robin Bright, Illustrations by Lauren Adams, Rebecca Galloway, Michelle McIver & Tony Mitchell
Children's Fiction
Patti Callahan Henry
Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Women's Fiction
