In this poignant and hilarious (The New York Times Book Review) memoir, trailblazing food writer and beloved restaurant critic Ruth Reichl chronicles her groundbreaking tenure as editor in chief of Gourmet.

When Cond Nast offered Ruth Reichl the top position at Americas oldest epicurean magazine, she declined. She was a writer, not a manager, and had no inclination to be anyones boss. Yet Reichl had been reading Gourmet since she was eight; it had inspired her career. How could she say no?

This is the story of a former Berkeley hippie entering the corporate world and worrying about losing her soul. It is the story of the moment restaurants became an important part of popular culture, a time when the rise of the farm-to-table movement changed, forever, the way we eat. Readers will meet legendary chefs like David Chang and Eric Ripert, idiosyncratic writers like David Foster Wallace, and a colorful group of editors and art directors who, under Reichls leadership, transformed stately Gourmet into a cutting-edge publication. This was the golden age of print mediathe last spendthrift gasp before the Internet turned the magazine world upside down.

Complete with recipes, Save Me the Plums is a personal journey of a woman coming to terms with being in charge and making a mark, following a passion and holding on to her dreamseven when she ends up in a place she never expected to be.

Paperback | 304 pages | 5.18″ x 7.97″