The following is an extended version of the article that appears in our March 2025 issue.
Ruth Reichl will discuss her latest novel at the All Henrico Reads event March 27. (Photo by Shannon Greer)
Foodies young and old are familiar with the writings of acclaimed chef and author Ruth Reichl, a former restaurant critic for the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times and former editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine. Settling into a slower pace at this stage of her career, Reichl finds joy in the simple things, including her newsletter on Substack, “La Briffe.” On March 27, Reichl visits the Henrico Sports & Events Center to discuss her latest book, “The Paris Novel,” a fictional account of a young woman navigating Paris in the 1980s. Henrico County Public Library welcomes Reichl for All Henrico Reads, a free event that began in 2007 and encourages members of the community to come together over a shared piece of literature.
Image courtesy Ruth Reichl
Richmond magazine: Where did the idea for “The Paris Novel” come from?
Ruth Reichl: When I turned in [my 2019 memoir] “Save Me the Plums,” there was a chapter about me going into this vintage clothing store in Paris. I tried on this fabulous dress, and I am transformed into this exotic, wonderful, gorgeous creature, and I desperately want this dress. The sales lady says it costs $6,000, and I say, “I am sorry, but that is not my dress.” My editor said, “I love that chapter so much, I wish you would write a novel about someone who buys the dress and what happens to her.” The minute she said that, I thought, “Oh, my God, I can put everything I really loved [about Paris] into this book. I can put art and literature and fashion and food; it can all go in there.” From start to finish, this book was pure pleasure. In fact, when I sent it to my agent, I said, “There’s no way this can be any good, because I don’t like writing, and I loved this.”
RM: What topics do you hope people talk about after reading your book?
Reichl: I think people need to be reminded that there is this really easy doorway into pleasure. You can get moments of joy every day, just from eating a wonderful orange and appreciating it. There are these moments out there waiting for them, and they’re easy to access. For me, one of the messages of the book is take a chance, open yourself up, learn to trust people. Making your life bigger is a very good thing.
RM: Do you feel that Substack has unlocked a new way for you to talk about food and connect with readers?
Reichl: It’s like going back to [an old] way. When you’re a restaurant critic, you feel like you have real communication with your audience; you hear from them a lot. When I was at Gourmet magazine, I wrote my editor’s letters. Doing Substack is really just another way of reaching out. I’ve been writing about food for 55 years, and I am having so much fun with Substack.
RM: How has it been, witnessing the shifts in the restaurant industry and food writing throughout your career?
Reichl: I got this James Beard Lifetime Achievement Award [in 2024]. When I first wrote my cookbook, which was in 1972, I was writing about a world, an America, that did not care about food at all; they did not think of food as serious, as interesting. And to see America become a country that is interested in food is so exciting.
To see how that profession has changed, and then to watch later the #MeToo movement and the change in kitchens, is also amazing. The Escoffier model of restaurants comes straight out of the army. To see that over the last 20 years change and instead develop an American kind of restaurant where that kind of behavior is just not accepted anymore is incredible.
I actually think we have the best food writing we’ve ever had, the most intelligent food writing. Food writing used to be pretty much recipe information, and now it’s everything — sociology and agriculture and history. It has just totally changed.
RM: Have you ever been to Richmond before?
Reichl: I think I have been there, and I think I had a great time there. But I’m trying to remember the restaurant. I still have a T-shirt from the restaurant I went to, and I did have a wonderful time there, but it was, I don’t know, 15 years ago.
RM: I’m not sure how long you’ll be here, and you’d said the most incredible meal you’ve had recently was from the Basque region. We just had a restaurant [Adarra] move into an iconic building in the city that used to house this restaurant, Mamma Zu, which was there for about 30 years. I think you should check out [the new place].
Reichl: I think that’s the restaurant I have the T-shirt from, Mamma Zu!
RM: Where do you want to travel next?
Reichl: I’ve never been to Taiwan. I’m dying to go to Taipei; I haven’t been to Seoul, and I can’t wait to go back to Tokyo, which is probably the best place to eat in the world. Every single meal we had, it didn’t matter where it was — it could have been a little street food place or a three-star Michelin, but we did not have a single bad bite of food in the almost two weeks we were there.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
