The Dish

The Lives and Labor Behind One Plate of Food

By: Andrew Friedman

Narrated by: Michael Lomonaco

Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

“A thorough, lively work of on-the-ground reportage. ... Friedman shares a remarkable story." —Wall Street Journal

Acclaimed “chef writer” Andrew Friedman introduces listeners to all the people and processes that come together in a single restaurant dish, creating an entertaining, vivid snapshot of the contemporary restaurant community, modern farming industry, and food-supply chain.

On a typical evening, in a contemporary American restaurant, a table orders their dinner from a server. It’s an exchange that happens dozens, or hundreds, of times a night—the core transaction that keeps the place churning. In this book, acclaimed chef writer Andrew Friedman slows down time to focus on a single dish at Chicago’s Wherewithall restaurant, following its production and provenances via real-time kitchen and in-the-field reportage, from the moment the order is placed to when the finished dish is delivered to the table.

As various components of this one dish are prepared by the kitchen team, Friedman introduces listeners to the players responsible for producing it, from the chefs who conceived the dish and manage the kitchen, to the line cooks and sous chefs who carry out the actual cooking, and the dishwashers who keep pace with the dining room.

Listeners will also meet the producers, farmers, and ranchers, who supply the restaurant, as Friedman visits each stop in the supply chain and profiles the key characters whose expertise and effort play essential roles in making the dish possible—they will walk rows of crops that line Midwestern farms, feel the chill of the cooler where beef dry-ages, harvest grapes at a Michigan winery, ride along with a delivery-truck driver, and hear the immigration sagas prevalent amongst often unseen and unheralded farm and restaurant workers.

The Dish is a rollicking ride inside every aspect of a restaurant dish. Both a fascinating window onto our food systems, and a celebration of the unsung heroes of restaurants and the collaborative nature of professional kitchen work, The Dish will ensure that listeners never look at any restaurant meal the same way again.

"Masterful. ... Friedman excels at bringing the dining room to boisterous life with vivid, telling details. ... This will sate gastronomes and casual foodies alike." — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

©2023 Andrew Friedman (P)2023 HarperCollins Publishers

Makes me what Dine out with questions

This inside look into where you food comes from was interesting and entertaining. Would recommended if you like books about Food and where is comes from. The Chicago History was also interesting

It was fine, just fine.

I had every reason to want to read and enjoy this book, just as I have many others on subjects related to culinary arts and restaurant management. The concept struck me as fresh and appealing.

At times, it was a mildly engaging (never rivetting) read while at other moments, it seemed just to muddle along without a great sense of purpose. The personalities, the backstories and the discussion of their day-to-day existence and interconnectedness were neither turn-offs nor compelling.

I didn’t dislike the book so much as I felt unmoved by it. It fell short of its potential, or at least short of my expectations.

So it was fine, just fine.

Interesting

This book tells the story of the intricacies of what goes into preparing a dish in a Chicago restaurant. The book was interesting but often became mired in detail. I wish the author had narrated the book. He would have added a vibrancy to the book