For a birthday present, my brother very thoughtfully gave me a copy of “Eat Me : The Food and Philosophy of Kenny Shopsin”” by Kenny Shopsin, along with the companion documovie “I like Killing Flies.” The cookbook and movie tell a fascinating story about an original American who created a one-of-a-kind eatery in Greenwich Village that is fervently beloved by its patrons and enigmatic to most everyone else.

The pragmatic cookbook “Eat Me: The Food and Philosophy of Kenny Shopsin”, like the author, is an American original. The book is brilliant – simultaneously disorganized and laser-beam focused, often outrageous and highly opinionated yet somehow non-judgmental, highly interesting and occasionally truly fascinating. Looking for a trendy cookbook filled with elegant in vogue recipes to help you show off at your next fancy dinner party? This book is not for you. Love Martha Stewart? Forget this book. Eat Me, like its author, is the antithesis of showy upper-middle-class. But could you use some pragmatic, totally down-to-earth, insightfully practical advice to help you prepare high quality basic food for your family? Need some inspiration and encouragement to experiment in the kitchen without fear? If so, you need to check out this book!!

Shopsin is an artist. His palette consists of the ingredients in his kitchen. He gives you practical, pragmatic advice about techniques that work (for him) and ones that don’t. Given his many self-taught years cooking food to order, his advice is remarkably relevant to home cooks – especially those that go to basic preparation techniques and ingredients. For example, he very thoughtfully and observantly deconstructs basic processes such as making eggs, pancakes and hamburgers. His observations are brilliant – not scientific, not analytical – just perceptive and highly experienced. Shopsin tells you where to get the most bang for your buck and your time: where you might consider cutting corners (because the extra work does not substantially improve the results) and where you can’t. He tells you how to read a recipe and which ones you might consider avoiding. And that’s just the beginning. In this formulaic recipe- bible era of leveraging off pre-prepared ingredients, Shopsin’s pragmatic, highly experimental approach is freeing and inspiring. Reading this book will make you a better cook. It will get you to think about what you’re doing and will give you the courage to NOT follow the recipe next time but to instead go with the flow. But be prepared for 100% honesty and zero pretentiousness. WYSIWYG. If that’s not for you, neither is this book.