Book Review: "How to Eat a Peach" by Diana Henry

    The best things in life are simple: savoring the little things, a sense of place, good food, friends and family. When a friend asked if I could help sell her family’s Palisade peaches at the Saturday farmer’s market, it felt like a good way to find these pleasures all in one place. The market brings out a true community vibe once a week throughout the summer – a place to see your neighbors, adopt a pet, register to vote, talk to a firefighter, peruse the work of local artists and, best of all, find the tastiest locally grown food around. It’s worth it just to watch someone discover the flavor of an heirloom tomato or a freshly picked peach.
   
​    Diana Henry’s recent book “How to Eat a Peach” captures this feeling of slowing down and enjoying food, creating menus that use local ingredients and are appropriate for the season. The title comes from Henry’s first trip to Italy in her early 20s. Dining in the heat of the evening at an outdoor restaurant, the table next to hers was given peaches for dessert which they sliced themselves and dropped into their cold glasses of moscato. The wine-soaked peaches, Henry remembers, were “a lovely way to end a meal – seasonal, straightforward, caring, even a little magical … those peaches became a symbol of what good food is all about.”

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