Off the Shelf: Hard Times and Southern Cooking

I finished reading Paula Deen's memoir, "It Ain't All About the Cookin,'" a while ago, but I somehow managed not to write about it until now.

The book is a memoir rather than a cookbook, though she does provide a recipe at the end of each chapter.  I adore Paula Deen - she really is my favorite celebrity chef (and I'm not embarrassed to admit it!), both because I love Southern food (it must be somewhere in my genes...) and because she comes across as such a genuine person.  After reading her book, I might like her even more.

Paula Deen certainly traveled a hard road to her current success, and she is incredibly forthright about her struggles.  From a tumultuous marriage to agoraphobia to near-destitution, she has faced some terrible straits - and often her troubles were compounded by her own bad decisions.  She was past forty when she started The Bag Lady, her lunch delivery business, and her restaurants, cookbooks, and TV shows came much later.  She speaks openly about the difficulty of starting a small business, and particularly of starting a restaurant, and she really does not glamorize that life.

I found it incredibly courageous that she wrote a book that highlights her own weaknesses and failings (she doesn't sugarcoat anything she thought or did), especially when her celebrity is so dependant on people's perceptions of her.  Her story is really a modern-day version of the American dream, however, and it provides a testament to the power of determination and the reality of pulling yourself up by your bookstraps.  Be forewarned, though - the story is written with an accent.  Literally.  I could really imagine Deen's voice telling the story - it just takes some adjustment to get used to reading that way!