Literary nuggets: The Reading Room’s Foodie Book Club

Clockwise from top: book club members, from left, Leah Bramson, Shiela Hale and Lauri Grossman; the club’s selections; and members Penny Fonde, left, and Trish Serafin. (Amy Sowder photos)

By AMY SOWDER

Six women settled into various positions of repose on cushioned chairs in an upstairs nook overlooking Edgemont Road on the northernmost tip of downtown Katonah.

“Well, she did have a sense of humor,” book club member Trish Serafin offered up to the group about this month’s author.

Club member Lauri Grossman wasn’t fully convinced.

“I had mixed feelings,” Grossman said about the book. “When I read how the title came about, I was pulled in. But nothing else in the book pulled me [in].”

The women on this late July day were discussing their food-book club’s latest tome: “How to Share an Egg,” by Bonny Reichert. It’s a culinary memoir about the relationship between food and family — sustenance and survival — from a chef, journalist and daughter of a Holocaust survivor.

They’ve read and discussed at least six other books, starting with “Cold Kitchen” by Caroline Eden. Soon they’ll be sharing their thoughts on “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle,” by Barbara Kingsolver.

Held at The Reading Room, Katonah’s bookstore-café, the club’s members range from 22 to 81 years old, and it’s not exclusive to women. It’s part of the bookstore’s book club program.

“Queer, classics, nonfiction, romantasy, Shakespeare. Each one is run by a different bookseller, so it has different personalities, different perspectives,” said Gretchen Menzies, who owns The Reading Room with her husband, Pete. The circa 1850 building with New England-style architecture was the site of Katonah’s first library.

For her book club theme, bookseller Penny Fonde chose food.

“Art is my true love, but food is probably my second love,” Fonde said. “I had a cooking club, used to work as a sous chef and here as a barista. I’m really big into cooking and food.”

To choose the book for the following month, Fonde suggests a few options and they discuss it and take an informal vote. Members have read “Tartufo,” by Kira Jane Buxton, “The Best American Food and Travel Writing,” by various food writers, “Finding Freedom,” by Erin French, “The Dish,” by Andrew Friedman, “Ina Garten: A Memoir,” and Reichert’s book.

Reichert’s memoir inspired talk of Jewish, immigrant and grandparent cooking, plus what foods children would eat then versus now.  

“And the part about matzo balls, that’s always controversial with all the nuances,” said member Leah Bramson.

The conversation changed its colors like a chameleon to match with the latest jumping-off point. Soon, they were sharing about how hard, yet how common, it is to cook a meal for multiple guests with different dietary restrictions or preferences.

“It’s like asking people to be a cook with shackles on,” Grossman said.

At some point, the discourse returned to the book itself. Some thought the Holocaust descriptions were too brutal. Others thought the author could’ve detailed more brutality. Another comment was that the author detailed her culinary training and relationship with her father but didn’t delve deep enough in the Holocaust.

"It’s a question of balance and holding onto what the story is,” member Shiela Hale said. 

The meetings draw members and visitors to hash out their opinions on the author’s writing and narrative style, the plot points, and the message within, whether it’s fiction, nonfiction, a collection of essays, or memoir. Naturally, the discussion winds its way toward their own lives, their family stories and history, as well as the world and society at large.

“That’s the wonderful aspect of food — the cross-cultural exchange,” Hale said to the others. “Don’t you think we’re having a cultural shift with food that crosses class lines?”

Hale is passionate about food and loves being in this book club, but don’t call her a “foodie.”

“That’s one of the quibbles I have about the word ‘foodie,’ as that has an association with elitism and being fussy,” Hale said to the other women. “It’s sort of contaminated the idea for me. I love food and care about the everydayness of it, how it grows and how our food industry has been so contaminated.”

Serafin loves how food is a common thread across cultures and continents.

“Food is a lens to the world; it brings us all together,” Serafin said.

That’s the idea for this book club, plus the others at The Reading Room.

“These book clubs create community,” Gretchen Menzies said. “People have disappeared [from public-gathering spaces], and it’s not good for anyone. We need connection, and we’re here for it.”

The Reading Room is located at 19 Edgemont Road, Katonah.