Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Notes on a Banana
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 1960
WEBSITE: https://leitesculinaria.com/
CITY: New York
STATE: NY
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY: Portuguese
Lives in NYC and Rosbury, CT * https://www.splendidtable.org/story/david-leite-opens-up-about-family-and-food * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Leite
RESEARCHER NOTES:
| LC control no.: | n 2008079776 |
|---|---|
| LCCN Permalink: | https://lccn.loc.gov/n2008079776 |
| HEADING: | Leite, David |
| 000 | 00325nz a2200121n 450 |
| 001 | 7725196 |
| 005 | 20081125161831.0 |
| 008 | 081125n| acannaabn |n aaa |
| 010 | __ |a n 2008079776 |
| 040 | __ |a DLC |b eng |c DLC |
| 100 | 1_ |a Leite, David |
| 670 | __ |a Leite, David. The new Portuguese table, 2009: |b e-CIP t.p. (David Leite) |
| 953 | __ |a xh09 |
PERSONAL
Born 1960, in Fall River, MA.
EDUCATION:Rochester Institute of Technology, A.A.S., 1981; Hunter College, B.S., 1998. Studied theater at Carnegie Mellon University.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Web publisher, food and travel writer, cookbook author, memoirist. Deutsch Advertising, copywriter, 1990-92; Merkley + Partners, senior copywriter, 1992-94; Ogilvy & Mather, Saatchi & Saachi, Y&R, and Wells, Rich, Greene, freelance advertising copywriter, 1995-2001; Leite’s Culinaria website, founder, publisher and writer, 1999-.
Has appeared as a guest on various television and radio programs. Acts as a correspondent on public radio’s food program The Splendid Table. Has been a speaker at and moderated panels for the Greenbrier. Member of the advisory board of Community Culinary School of Northwest Connecticut.
AWARDS:Bert Greene Award for Food Journalism, 2006; James Beard Award for Best Internet Website for Food, 2006, 2007; Association of Food Journalists Award, 2006, 2007; James Beard Award for Best Newspaper Feature Without Recipes, 2008; First Book/Julia Child Award, International Association of Culinary Professionals, 2010, for The New Portuguese Table.
WRITINGS
Has written articles for publications, including New York Times, Martha Stewart Living, Bon Appétit, Saveur, Food & Wine, Gourmet, Food Arts, Men’s Health, Los Angeles Times Magazine, Chicago Sun Times, and Washington Post. His work has been included in the Best Food Writing anthologies from 2001 to 2015.
SIDELIGHTS
David Leite is a food and travel writer, cookbook author, memoirist, and website publisher. He began his career as an advertising copywriter, working both on staff and freelance for various organizations and corporations, including Deutsch Advertising, Merkley + Partners, Ogilvy & Mather, Saatchi & Saachi, Y&R, and Wells, Rich, Greene. In 1998, he turned his attention to food and travel writing, publishing articles in a host of magazines and newspapers, among them, New York Times, Martha Stewart Living, Bon Appétit, Saveur, Food & Wine, Gourmet, Food Arts, Men’s Health, Los Angeles Times Magazine, Chicago Sun Times, and Washington Post. He has also appeared as a guest on television shows, including for the Food Network and the History Channel, and on the radio shows All Thing Considered and Cooking Today. Leite is a correspondent and guest host for National Public Radio’s The Splendid Table. His articles on food have been anthologized in the series Best Food Writing. A correspondent at the Author’s Guild website summarized the scope of Leite’s articles, saying that he “has written about everything from Champagne and Welsh cuisine to living with bipolar disorder and the trials and tribulations of being a super taster.”
The New Portuguese Table
In 1999, Leite set up a website, which he called Leite’s Culinaria. Here are featured food-related articles and columns, food facts and lore, and a database of recipes with a special focus on Portuguese specialties. In 2009 Leite released his first book, The New Portuguese Table: Exciting Flavors from Europe’s Western Coast, in which he delves into the cuisine of his heritage. For this book, he won the 2010 International Association of Culinary Professionals First Book/Julia Child Award. In this book he outlines the regional cuisines of Portugal, following with recipes spanning appetizers to condiments.
Susan Hurst, writing in Library Journal, applauded the coverage, saying that The New Portuguese Table is “sure to appeal to adventurous cooks” and may “reinforce your urge to hit the sunny beaches of the Algarve.” Critiquing the cookbook in Booklist, Mark Knoblauch found it unsurprising that the “Iberian Peninsula’s other occupant should reinvent its cooking for a new generation” and offer it up to an “international audience.” In ForeWord, Matt Sutherland commented that Leite “superbly” summarizes Portugal’s thirteen regions with details of their food and wine. Many recipes, Sutherland advised, are “surprising in their Portuguese distinctness.” Indeed, “Portugal brings something new to the table with an unpretentious satisfaction component sure to gain in popularity.”
A critic in Publishers Weekly amusingly reported that Leite’s book may be the “perfect cookbook for lovers of salt cod” before going on to say that it may be the perfect cookbook for those who hate the fish as well. The critic applauded the “extensive glossary” and the “delectable jumble of dishes that range from classic to contemporary.” Writing online at Kitchn, Faith Durand called The New Portuguese Kitchen a “passionate yet lucid approach to Portuguese cooking” with “wonderful” photos. She summarized it as “gorgeous” and a “great introduction to Portuguese cooking.”
Notes of a Banana
Leite next published Notes of a Banana: A Memoir of Food, Love, and Manic Depression. Shauna Sever spoke with Leite in an interview for The Splendid Table, where Leite described his childhood, growing up with extended family in what he called a “tenement”—a three-story building of three apartments. His parents were immigrants from the Azores. Everyone—as many as fifteen people—gathered for Sunday dinners, a vast spread of Portuguese foods. As a child, he found it alienating from American culture. He yearned for Spam and Velveeta, as well as Betty Crocker cake. When he met his partner, Alan, everything changed. Alan had a different relationship to food, which he imparted to Leite. Leite, who has suffered from manic depression, told Sever that “food, and specifically the act of cooking food, . . . calmed me.” He continued: “I would get lost in those smells and the sights and the tastes of it. It’d be a diversion momentarily, and sometimes that’s all it took to get through the day.” Traveling back to his family’s home in Portugal, he found his passion: “I say that if roots could have come out of my feet and burrowed their way into the volcanic soil of that island, they would have because I finally felt that I was where I belonged, and it was an extraordinarily powerful moment for me.”
A Kirkus Reviews correspondent observed that in this memoir Leite “tells the story of his struggle to come to terms with his Portuguese heritage, bipolar disorder, and homosexuality.” Of Leite’s efforts, Jamie Schler wrote at Huffington Post: “Letting it go, exposing ourselves and our innermost secrets to the world is a tricky, delicate balance and it takes skill, tenderness, and humor. David Leite does it masterfully.” The critic found the “chronicle of self-acceptance . . . brave and moving.” Letie, said the critic, “impressively finds honesty and humor in the darkest of circumstances” in this debut. Karen Springen applauded this “warm, witty, sometimes heartbreaking” memoir, terming it a “candid and charming self-portrait” in Booklist. B. David Zarley, writing on the Paste website, called Notes of a Banana, “one of the finest portraits of bipolar disorder.” On the The Same 24 Hours website, a reviewer characterized the book as “poignant, astonishingly courageous, and unapologetically hilarious”—a “true tale that dazzles, touches the heart, and inspires.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, September 1, 2009, Mark Knoblauch review of The New Portuguese Table: Exciting Flavors from Europe’s Western Coast p. 23; March 15, 2017, Karen Springen, review of Notes on a Banana: A Memoir of Food, Love, and Manic Depression, p. 13
Library Journal, May 15, 2009, Susan Hurst, review of The New Portuguese Table, p. 93.
Publishers Weekly, April 20, 2009, review of The New Portuguese Table, p. 46.
ONLINE
ABC News, http://abcnews.go.com (April 19, 2017), Lauren Effron, review of Notes on a Banana.
Byrd’s Books, http://byrdsbooks.com (April 10, 2017), review of Notes on a Banana.
ForeWord, http://www.forewordmagazine.com (July 1, 2009), Matt Sutherland, review of The New Portuguese Table.
Huffington Post, https://www.huffingtonpost.com (June 30, 2017), Jamie Schler, review of Notes on a Banana.
Kirkus Reviews, http://www.kirkusreviews.com (March 1, 2017), review of Notes on a Banana.
Kitchn, https://www.thekitchn.com (October 2, 2009), Faith Durand, review of The New Portuguese Table.
Paste, https://www.pastemagazine.com (April 12, 2017), B. David Zarley, review of Notes on a Banana.
Same 24 Hours, http://thesame24hours.podbean.com (May 22, 2017), review of Notes on a Banana.
Southern Kissed, https://www.southernkissed.com/ (May 17, 2017), review of Notes on a Banana.
Splendid Table, https://www.splendidtable.org (April 20, 2017), Shauna Sever, author interview.
Washington Times, https://www.washingtontimes.com (April 18, 2017), Tracee M. Herbaugh, review of Notes on a Banana.
David Leite
Publisher
David Leite (his last name rhymes with eat–of course), in case you’re not familiar with his inimitable ways, is the resident Fatty Daddy, Fearless Leiter, and benevolent Oz behind this site.
David’s most recent project is his book, Notes on a Banana: A Memoir of Food, Love, and Manic Depression. It will be published this April by Dey Street Books. (And that’s why he has been so terribly absent from his blog. Hopefully, this will change, and he’ll get his memoired-out butt back in the chair to delight us all.)
David founded Leite’s Culinaria in 1999, long before blogs came into being. In 2006, he and former food editor, Linda Avery, had the distinction of being the first winners ever of a James Beard Award for a website, a feat they repeated in 2007.
Though you may know David best by the witticisms and wisdom he shares online, he’s also shared his perspective on pretty much everything—from Champagne to Welsh cuisine, from his complaints about growing up with Momma Leite to the trials and tribulations of being a super taster—in print, radio, and television. His first book, The New Portuguese Table: Exciting Flavors from Europe’s Western Coast, explored the food of his heritage and won the 2010 IACP First Book/Julia Child Award. He’s also shared his opinion in publications including the New York Times, Martha Stewart Living, Saveur, Bon Appétit, Gourmet, Food & Wine, Yankee, Men’s Health, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Sun-Times, The Washington Post, Charlotte Observer, and TheMorningNews.org.
Always a talker, David has been a frequent guest and host on Martha Stewart Living Radio programs, including “Cooking Today,” as well as a guest on Lucinda Scala Quinn’s program, “Mad Hungry Monday.” He’s also been heard on NPR’s “All Thing Considered” and is correspondent and guest host on public radio’s The Splendid Table hosted by Lynne Rossetto Kasper. He’s appeared on History Channel 2’s “United Stuff of America,” Food Network’s “Beat Bobby Flay,” The Today Show, “Radical Sabbatical,” and is a regular guest on WTNH-TV. David has been both interviewer and interview subject at the 92nd St Y in New York City.
David’s award-winning way of seeing the world has been included in the Best Food Writing series from 2001 to 2008 and 2010 to 2015. He won the 2008 James Beard Award for Newspaper Feature Writing Without Recipes for his article “In a ’64 T-Bird, Chasing a Date with a Clam” and was nominated for the same award the following year for his article “Perfection? Hint: It’s Warm and Has a Secret,” both from the New York Times. He was a 2006 winner of the Bert Greene Award for Food Journalism. In 2014 he was nominated for both Best Blog and Best Podcast Series by the IACP.
When David’s not hunched over the computer, chances are he’s cooking Tagliatelle with Leeks and Shrimp, Julia Child’s Coq au Vin, or Pumpkin Cake With Maple–Cream Cheese Frosting with his partner, The One Who Brings Him Love, Joy, and Happiness (aka The One).
Renee Schettler
David Leite
DAVID LEITE founded the website Leite’s Culinaria in 1999. In 2006, he had the distinction of being the first winner ever of a James Beard Award for a website, a feat he repeated in 2007.
David has written about everything from Champagne and Welsh cuisine to living with bipolar disorder and the trials and tribulations of being a super taster— in print, radio, and television. His first book, The New Portuguese Table: Exciting Flavors from Europe’s Western Coast (Clarkson Potter), explored the food of his heritage and won the 2010 IACP First Book/Julia Child Award. He’s also written for publications including the New York Times, Martha Stewart Living, Saveur, Bon Appétit, Gourmet, Food & Wine, Yankee, Men’s Health, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Sun-Times, The Washington Post, Charlotte Observer, and TheMorningNews.org.
David is a correspondent and frequent guest host on public radio’s “The Splendid Table." He's also been guest on Martha Stewart Living Radio programs, including “Cooking Today,” as well as Lucinda Scala Quinn’s program, “Mad Hungry Monday.” In addition, he's been heard on NPR’s “All Thing Considered." He’s appeared on History Channel 2’s “United Stuff of America,” Food Network’s “Beat Bobby Flay,” “The Today Show,” “Radical Sabbatical,” and is a regular guest on WTNH-TV.
David’s work has been included in the Best Food Writing series from 2001 to 2015. He won the 2008 James Beard Award for Newspaper Feature Writing Without Recipes for his article “In a ’64 T-Bird, Chasing a Date with a Clam” and was nominated for the same award the following year for his article “Perfection? Hint: It’s Warm and Has a Secret,” both from the New York Times. He was a 2006 winner of the Bert Greene Award for Food Journalism. In 2014 he was nominated for both Best Blog and Best Podcast Series by the IACP.
Currently he's at work on a new book Notes of a Banana: A Memoir of Food, Love, and Maic Depression, to be published by Dey Street Books, an imprint of HarperCollins.
Works
Huge cover
The New Portuguese Table
Nestled between the Atlantic Ocean and Spain, Portugal is today’s hot-spot vacation destination, and world travelers are enthralled by the unique yet familiar cuisine of this country. The New Portuguese Table takes you on a culinary journey into the soul of this fascinating nation and looks at its 11 surprisingly different historical regions, as well as the island of Madeira and the Azores, and their food culture, typical dishes, and wines. This book also showcases Portugal’s pantry of go-to ingredients, such as smoked sausages, peppers, cilantro, seafood, olive oil, garlic, beans, tomatoes, and bay leaves — all beloved by Americans and now combined in innovative ways.
2009
Awards and Recognition
Best Food Writing Anthologies (2001 - 2015)
Julia Child Award (New Portuguese Table/2010)
James Beard Award (Newspaper/ New York Times 2008)
James Beard Award (Website 2007)
Association of Food Journalists Award (2007)
Association of Food Journalists Award (2006)
James Beard Award (Website 2006)
Bert Greene Award 2005
David Leite
David%20leite%20by%20bob%20carey
David Leite is the publisher of the website Leite's Culinaria, which has won two James Beard awards. He is the author of Notes on a Banana: A Memoir of Food, Love, and Manic Depression as well as The New Portuguese Table: Exciting Flavors from Europe's Western Coast, which won the 2010 IACP First Book/Julia Child Award. His writing has appeared in publications such as The New York Times, Martha Stewart Living, Saveur, Bon Appetit, Gourmet, Food & Wine, Pastry Art & Design, Food Arts, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Sun-Times, The Washington Post and the Charlotte Observer. His awards include a 2008 James Beard award for Newspaper Feature Writing Without Recipes, a 2006 Bert Green Award for Food Journalism, and Association of Food Journalists awards in 2006 and 2007.
David Leite
3rd degree connection3rd
Web Publisher | Food Writer | Cookbook Author | Memoirist
Leite's Culinaria Hunter College
Greater New York City Area 500+ 500+ connections
Send InMail Send an InMail to David Leite More actions
2010 Julia Child/First Cookbook Award Author "The New Portuguese Table: Exciting Flavors From Europe's Western
Coast" to be published by Clarkson Potter August, 2009. 2008 James Beard Award for Newspaper Feature Writing Without Recipes. 2007 and 2012 James Beard Award for his Web site, Leite's Culinaria. 2006 Food Blog Award winner. 2007 and 2006 Association of Food Journalists Award. 2005 World Food Media Award for Best Food and/or Drink Web Site. Three-time nominee for the Bert Green Award for Food Journalism, which he won in 2006. Best Food Writing series 2001 to 2014.
Show more Show more of David’s summary
Experience
Leite's Culinaria
Publisher/Writer
Company NameLeite's Culinaria
Dates EmployedFeb 1999 – Present Employment Duration19 yrs 1 mo
LocationNew York, NY
• Technological responsibilities: Site maintenance, backup and restore procedures, archive processing, HTML coding, CSS and cgi-bin.
• Editorial responsibilities: Writing food-related feature articles and columns, editing the work of contributors, testing recipes, researching food facts and lore, writing and updating a comprehensive food dictionary, updating a growing database of recipes (featuring Portuguese specialties from around the world), overseeing and managing photo shoots.
• Administrative responsibilities: Responding to visitors' e-mails and requests; acting as a liaison between visitors and educational, commercial, and Internet resources; interfacing with media and publishing personnel; developing commercial partnerships with other Web sites; managing a small staff
HarperCollins Publishers
Author of "Notes on a Banana: Amemoir of Food, Love, and Manic Depression"
Company NameHarperCollins Publishers
Dates Employed2014 – Present Employment Duration4 yrs
LocationNew York, NY
Author of "Notes on a Banana: A Memoir of Food, Love, and Manic Depression" April 2017
Media (3)This position has 3 media
Previous Next
Say Hello to "Notes on a Banana"
Say Hello to "Notes
on a Banana"
This media is a video
The Banana Project
The Banana Project
This media is a video
An Author's Best Day
An Author's Best Day
This media is a video
Random House
Author of "The New Portuguese Table: Exciting Flavors From Europe's Western Coast"
Company NameRandom House
Dates Employed2009 – Present Employment Duration9 yrs
LocationNew York, NY
Cookbook author of "The New Portuguese Table."
Media (1)This position has 1 media
The New Portuguese Table
The New Portuguese
Table
This media is an image
Various Publications
Freelance Food and Travel Writer
Company NameVarious Publications
Dates Employed1998 – Present Employment Duration20 yrs
Select Clients:
* New York Times
* Gourmet
* Saveur
* Food & Wine
* Bon Appétit
* Food Arts
* Martha Stewart Living
* Men's Health
* Los Angeles Times
* Washington Post
* Chicago Sun-Times
* Yankee Magazine
* epicurious.com
* themorningnews.org
The Greenbrier
Speaker/Attendee
Company NameThe Greenbrier
Dates Employed2002 – 2007 Employment Duration5 yrs
Moderated panels
Ogilvy & Mather, Saatchi & Saachi, Y&R, Wells Rich Green
Freelance Advertising Copywriter/Associate Creative Director
Company NameOgilvy & Mather, Saatchi & Saachi, Y&R, Wells Rich Green
Dates EmployedJan 1995 – 2001 Employment Duration6 yrs
Copywriting
Merkley + Partners
Senior Copywriter
Company NameMerkley + Partners
Dates Employed1992 – 1994 Employment Duration2 yrs
Copywriting
Deutsch Advertising
Copywriter
Company NameDeutsch Advertising
Dates Employed1990 – 1992 Employment Duration2 yrs
Copywriting
Show less
Education
Hunter College
Hunter College
Degree NameBS Field Of StudyPsychology
Dates attended or expected graduation 1995 – 1998
Psychology
Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University
Field Of StudyTheater
Dates attended or expected graduation 1981 – 1983
Acting
Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester Institute of Technology
Degree NameAssociate of Arts and Sciences (AAS) Field Of StudyCommunication Design
Dates attended or expected graduation 1978 – 1981
Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester Institute of Technology
Degree NameA.A.S. Field Of StudyCommunications Design
Dates attended or expected graduation 1978 – 1980
Activities and Societies: Theater, theater for the deaf, sign language
Communication Design
Show less
Volunteer Experience
Community Culinary School of Northwest Connecticut
Advisory Board Member
Company NameCommunity Culinary School of Northwest Connecticut
Dates volunteeredMay 2014 – Present Volunteer duration3 yrs 10 mos
Cause Education
Responsibilities include adjunct fundraising, outreach efforts, liaison with companies, advising, lecturing, etc.
Featured Skills & Endorsements
Blogging
See 120 endorsements for Blogging
99+
Endorsed by Erin Gifford and 24 others who are highly skilled at this
Endorsed by 3 of David’s colleagues at Leite's Culinaria
Web Content
See 60 endorsements for Web Content
60
Endorsed by Julie Ross Godar, who is highly skilled at this
Food Writing
See 54 endorsements for Food Writing
54
Endorsed by Marge Perry and 13 others who are highly skilled at this
Endorsed by 2 of David’s colleagues at Leite's Culinaria
Show more
Recommendations
Received (3)
Given (10)
Lynn Swann
Lynn Swann
Director of Marketing and Communications at The Omni Homestead Resort
June 7, 2008, Lynn worked with David but at different companies
David is an extremely talented food writer. His vast knowledge of the food writing industry and his passion for writing are incredible. I had the pleasure of first meeting David as an attendee at the Symposium for Professional Food Writers and it was clear he would become an even greater success. David has also participated as a speaker, but no matter his role, he has been supportive of other writers, sharing his knowledge and experience as only a true mentor can.
Maria Cristina Vasconcelos
Maria Cristina Vasconcelos
Independent Higher Education Professional
April 5, 2008, Maria Cristina was a client of David’s
David is an excellent person and an excellent writer. He knows what he is doing and is a perfectionist.
He is the person I would advise for a consistent and a reliable work.
Show more Show more
Accomplishments
David has 4 honors4
Expand honors & awards section
Honors & Awards
James Beard Award for Best Newspaper Feature With Recipes James Beard Award for Best Newspaper Feature Without Recipes James Beard Award for Best Internet Website for Food James Beard Award for Best Internet Website for Food
David has 1 language1
Expand languages section
Language
Portuguese
David has 1 organization1
Expand organizations section
Organization
The Authors Guild
David has 1 publication1
Expand publications section
Publication
The New Portuguese Table
Interests
avid Leite
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
David Leite is a Portuguese American memoirist, food writer, cookbook author, publisher of the two-time James Beard Award-winning website Leite's Culinaria, and an entrepreneur.[1]
Contents
1 Early life
2 Career
3 Personal life
4 Awards
5 Bibliography
6 See also
7 References
Early life
Leite was born in Fall River, Massachusetts, and raised in Swansea.
Career
He has written for The New York Times,[2] Martha Stewart Living[3] Bon Appétit,[4] Saveur,[5] Food & Wine,[6] Gourmet,[7] Food Arts,[8] Men's Health, The Los Angeles Times Magazine,[9] Chicaco Sun Times,[10] The Washington Post,[11] and other publications in the United States and abroad. Leite won the 2008 James Beard Award for Best Newspaper Feature Without Recipes. He also won the 2006 and 2007 James Beard Award for Best Internet Website for Food. Leite is a four-time nominee for the Bert Greene Award for Food Journalism, which he won in 2006. He is also a recipient of several awards from the Association of Food Journalists.[12] His work has been featured in Best Food Writing (ISBN 1-56924-416-2) 14 times since 2001. Leite was a contributor to The Morning News. He was also a recurring guest on the Today Show, the Martha Stewart Radio program Living Today[13] hosted by Mario Bosquez, and Connecticut Style. He has been heard on Good Food with Evan Kleiman, Lucinda Scala Quinn's program, Mad Hungry Monday and various NPR programs. Leite has appeared on History Channel 2's United Stuff of America and Food Network's Beat Bobby Flay. He reads his essays and columns, as well as acts as a correspondent, on public radio's food program The Splendid Table hosted by Lynne Rossetto Kasper.[14] In 2012 he served a guest host of Cooking Today on Martha Stewart Radio. In 2013 he began broadcasting the popular podcast Talking With My Mouth Full. In August 2009 his first book, The New Portuguese Table: Exciting Flavors From Europe's Western Coast, was published by Clarkson Potter[15] and won the 2010 First Book/Julia Child Award. A humorist, Leite brings a skewed and funny sensibility to the world of food.
Notes on a Banana: A Memoir of Food, Love, and Manic Depression, Leite's next book, will be published on April 11, 2017 by Dey Street Books, a division of HarperCollins.
Personal life
Leite lives in New York City and Roxbury, Connecticut. In 2004, he became a citizen of Portugal.
Awards
Association of Food Journalists Awards
Awards Beard James[16]
Bert Greene Awards
Culinary Hall of Fame Induction[17]
IACP/Julia Child Award for Best First Book
Bibliography
Notes on a Banana: A Memoir of Food, Love, and Manic Depression. Dey Street Books: 2017.
The New Portuguese Table: Exciting Flavors From Europe's Western Coast. Clarkson Potter: 2009.
Leite, David: NOTES ON A BANANA
Kirkus Reviews.
(Mar. 1, 2017): From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Leite, David NOTES ON A BANANA Dey Street/HarperCollins (Adult Nonfiction) $26.99 4, 11 ISBN: 978-0-06-241437-3
A James Beard Award-winning food blogger tells the story of his struggle to come to terms with his Portuguese heritage, bipolar disorder, and homosexuality.The son of two immigrants from the Azores, Leite (The New Portuguese Table: Exciting Flavors from Europe's Western Coast, 2009), nicknamed "Banana," grew up in a Massachusetts town that was "pretty much in the geographic armpit of the state." His one joy was being around the "Sisters of the Spatula," the women who, along with his mother, ruled his childhood with love and food. But the older he became, the more Leite wanted to eat hamburgers and cakes smeared in "swirls of Betty Crocker chocolate frosting." Fitting in became an even greater challenge during his adolescence, which was marked by episodes of extreme panic, anxiety, and insomnia. Further complicating Leite's situation was the realization that his fondness for looking at male underwear models in the Sears catalog signaled a nascent homosexuality he desperately wanted to disavow. In college, the author had affairs with men while "dating" a woman he fantasized would be his wife but with whom he could never have sex. He also began experiencing the chaotic extremes of the bipolar disorder that psychologists had mistakenly diagnosed as depression. Leaving college without a degree, Leite went to New York, where he worked first as a waiter then as an ad writer while unsuccessfully trying to turn straight through involvement with the "gay curing" Aesthetic Realism movement. A long-term relationship with a man who "loved everything about the ceremony of the table" led to Leite's reimmersion in the cooking he loved and the Azorean culture from which he had separated himself. It also gave him the courage to seek the answers that had eluded him and his doctors about the truth of his condition. In this coming-of-age story and chronicle of self-acceptance, Leite impressively finds honesty and humor in the darkest of circumstances, making this a strong debut memoir. A brave and moving tale of food, family, and psychology.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Leite, David: NOTES ON A BANANA." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Mar. 2017. PowerSearch,
1 of 10 1/18/18, 10:51 PM
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MA...
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A482911588/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=ba7d4a21. Accessed 18 Jan. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A482911588
2 of 10 1/18/18, 10:51 PM
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MA...
Leite, David (text) & Nuno Correia (photogs.). The New Portuguese Table: Exciting Flavors from Europe's Western
Coast
Susan Hurst
Library Journal.
134.9 (May 15, 2009): p93+. From Book Review Index Plus.
COPYRIGHT 2009 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
Leite, David (text) & Nuno Correia (photogs.). The New Portuguese Table: Exciting Flavors from Europe's Western Coast. Clarkson Potter: Crown Publishing Group. Aug. 2009. c.256p. photogs. index. ISBN 978-0-307-39441-5. $32.50. COOKERY
If your finances don't permit a trip abroad this year, perhaps this cookbook will provide some comfort--though it might just reinforce your urge to hit the sunny beaches of the Algarve. Leite, a noted Portuguese American food writer and publisher of the James Beard Award-winning web site Elite's Culinary (www.leitesculinaria.com), begins by outlining Portugal's diverse regional cuisines and then describes traditional ingredients. From there it is a straightforward listing of appetizers, soups, fish, meat, poultry, vegetable/egg/rice dishes, breads, sweets, liqueurs, and condiments, with approximately 150 recipes overall. Each recipe begins with a paragraph relating its background, which adds to the book's homey feel. The recipes, many inspired by Leite's memories of his grandmother's cooking, are designed for the home cook and generally don't require exotic ingredients, although a supplier for salt cod may be necessary. A list of sources is provided for the few hard-to-find items, and color photos add to the presentation. Full of delicious-sounding recipes, this title is sure to appeal to adventurous cooks wanting to try a new ethnic cuisine and will also be popular with Portuguese American communities.--Susan Hurst, Miami Univ. Libs., Oxford, OH
Hurst, Susan
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Hurst, Susan. "Leite, David (text) & Nuno Correia (photogs.). The New Portuguese Table:
Exciting Flavors from Europe's Western Coast." Library Journal, 15 May 2009, p. 93+. PowerSearch, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A201493051/GPS?u=schlager& sid=GPS&xid=0cc84dda. Accessed 18 Jan. 2018.
3 of 10 1/18/18, 10:51 PM
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MA...
Gale Document Number: GALE|A201493051
4 of 10 1/18/18, 10:51 PM
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MA...
The New Portuguese Table: Exciting
Flavors from Europe's Western Coast
Matt Sutherland
ForeWord.
(July-August 2009): From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2009 ForeWord http://www.forewordmagazine.com
Full Text:
Work Title: The New Portuguese Table: Exciting Flavors from Europe's Western Coast Work Author(s): David Leite
Clarkson Potter
Hardcover $32.50 (256 pp)
Food
ISBN: 9780307394415
Reviewer: Matt Sutherland
In his introduction, David Leite describes his years of ambivalence with twenty-first-century Portugal, a country seemingly unhinged from his parent's romanticized image. Leite's travels in Lisbon, Porto, and afield, were always tainted by modernity, by a sense of lost innocence. Not until a boisterous dinner around a friend's kitchen table, eating an adapted Portuguese classic of partridge escabeche nuanced with Indian and Asian spices, did he have his aha! experience. "At that moment it was clear to me what I had to do: embrace this meal, this dining scene, this Portugal. Just because the Portuguese pantry and table had changed since my father left in 1958 didn't mean Portugal was any less authentic....I now, it seemed, had twice as much to learn, see, and eat. Discovering the similarities and differences between classic and contemporary dishes obsessed me."
A three-time James Beard Award-winner for his food writing, Leite opens with a chapter titled "Portugal Parsed," superbly describing each of the country's thirteen historical regions, including detail on the local foods and wines. His section on the Portuguese pantry provides a primer on the meats, cheeses, beans, seafood, vegetables, herbs, spices, and other ingredients unique to the nation's cooking. What can readers expect recipe-wise? A great many dishes surprising in their Portuguese distinctness. As a country bordering the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, Portugal brings something new to the table with an unpretentious satisfaction component sure to gain in popularity here in the United States. (August)
5 of 10 1/18/18, 10:51 PM
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MA...
Matt Sutherland
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Sutherland, Matt. "The New Portuguese Table: Exciting Flavors from Europe's Western Coast."
ForeWord, July-Aug. 2009. PowerSearch, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A201806093 /GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS&xid=ef3b5b86. Accessed 18 Jan. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A201806093
6 of 10 1/18/18, 10:51 PM
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MA...
The New Portuguese Table: Exciting Flavors from Europe's Western Coast
ForeWord.
(Aug. 19, 2009): From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2009 ForeWord http://www.forewordmagazine.com
Full Text:
David Leite; THE NEW PORTUGUESE TABLE: EXCITING FLAVORS FROM EUROPE'S WESTERN COAST; Clarkson Potter (Food) $32.50 ISBN: 9780307394415
In his introduction David Leite describes his years of ambivalence with twenty-first-century Portugal a country seemingly unhinged from his parent's romanticized image. Leite's travels in Lisbon Porto and afield were always tainted by modernity by a sense of lost innocence. Not until a boisterous dinner around a friend's kitchen table eating an adapted Portuguese classic of partridge escabeche nuanced with Indian and Asian spices did he have his aha! experience. "At that moment it was clear to me what I had to do: embrace this meal this dining scene this Portugal. Just because the Portuguese pantry and table had changed since my father left in 1958 didn't mean Portugal was any less authentic....I now it seemed had twice as much to learn see and eat. Discovering the similarities and differences between classic and contemporary dishes obsessed me."
A three-time James Beard Award-winner for his food writing Leite opens with a chapter titled "Portugal Parsed" superbly describing each of the country's thirteen historical regions including detail on the local foods and wines. His section on the Portuguese pantry provides a primer on the meats cheeses beans seafood vegetables herbs spices and other ingredients unique to the nation's cooking. What can readers expect recipe-wise? A great many dishes surprising in their Portuguese distinctness. As a country bordering the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Portugal brings something new to the table with an unpretentious satisfaction component sure to gain in popularity here in the United States. (August)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"The New Portuguese Table: Exciting Flavors from Europe's Western Coast." ForeWord, 19 Aug.
2009. PowerSearch, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A236034150/GPS?u=schlager& sid=GPS&xid=66bf1110. Accessed 18 Jan. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A236034150
7 of 10 1/18/18, 10:51 PM
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MA...
The New Portuguese Table: Exciting Flavors from Europe's Western Coast
Publishers Weekly.
256.16 (Apr. 20, 2009): p46. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2009 PWxyz, LLC http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
* The New Portuguese Table: Exciting Flavors from Europe's Western Coast David Leite. Clarkson Potter, $32.50 (256p) ISBN 978-0-307-39441-5
This is the perfect cookbook for lovers of salt cod, and it just might be the perfect cookbook for those who dislike the mild, Atlantic fish. Leite, a three-time James Beard-award winner and proprietor of the Web site LeitesCulinaria.com, offers a wealth of recipes for the brackish dried fish, including a traditional version of pasteis de bacalhau (salt cod fritters). But cod is but one of the amaazing dishes offered here. By highlighting the eclectic ingredients and modern techniques that define the country today, Leite brings the often-overlooked foods of Portugal center stage. This fully illustrated book begins with an extensive glossary of Portuguese staples, plus a port primer and an introduction to Madeira, and ends with a chapter devoted to workhorse sundries such as fiery piri-piri paste and smoked paprika oil. Along the way home cooks are introduced to a delectable jumble of dishes that range from classic to contemporary. A comforting adaptation of the fabled stone soup is enlivened with spicy chourico sausage; simple-yet-elegant duck breasts are sauced with white port and black olives; and a dip made with anchovies, green olives, cilantro, and whole milk is surprisingly harmonious. The desserts are comparatively docile-- molasses cookies, baked custard tarts--but the recipe variation for fatias douradas (Portuguese sweet bread French toast) is truly over-the-top. (Aug.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"The New Portuguese Table: Exciting Flavors from Europe's Western Coast." Publishers Weekly,
20 Apr. 2009, p. 46. PowerSearch, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A200342192 /GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS&xid=cda8e3e0. Accessed 18 Jan. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A200342192
8 of 10 1/18/18, 10:51 PM
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MA...
Notes on a Banana: A Memoir of Food,
Love, and Manic Depression
Karen Springen
Booklist.
113.14 (Mar. 15, 2017): p13+. From Book Review Index Plus.
COPYRIGHT 2017 American Library Association http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Full Text:
Notes on a Banana: A Memoir of Food, Love, and Manic Depression. By David Leite.
Apr. 2017.272p. Morrow, $26.99 (9780062414373). 818.
In this warm, witty, sometimes heartbreaking memoir, Portuguese American writer Leite shares his lifelong love affair with food and struggles with manic depression. As a young child, he and his colorful mother (who affectionately calls him Banana) secretly gorge on whole pies together, and as a seventh-grader, he is called "faggot." He describes watching with awe and horror as another boy demonstrates how to masturbate, complete with a "deep guttural moan as if he were hurt" and "an arc of something white." His conclusion at the time: "If that was whacking off, you could count me out." Fans of the author's James Beard Award-winning website, Leite's Culinaria, where he notes, "My last name, quite coincidentally, rhymes with 'eat' in English, ate' in Portuguese," won't be surprised by his wonderful sense of humor and his keen powers of observation. He notes a Manhattan street sign that says, "Depression is a flaw in chemistry not character." In his case, it's certainly true. Leite's involving memoir will engage foodies and all who appreciate candid and charming self-portraits.--Karen Springen
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Springen, Karen. "Notes on a Banana: A Memoir of Food, Love, and Manic Depression."
Booklist, 15 Mar. 2017, p. 13+. PowerSearch, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc /A490998384/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS&xid=f67cf343. Accessed 18 Jan. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A490998384
9 of 10 1/18/18, 10:51 PM
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MA...
The New Portuguese Table: Exciting
Flavors from Europe's Western Coast
Mark Knoblauch
Booklist.
106.1 (Sept. 1, 2009): p23. From Book Review Index Plus.
COPYRIGHT 2009 American Library Association http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Full Text:
The New Portuguese Table: Exciting Flavors from Europe's Western Coast. By David Leite and Nuno Correia.
2009. 256p. illus. Clarkson Potter, $32.50 (9780307394415). 641.59.
Given the current ascendancy of Spanish cuisine on the world stage, it's not surprising that the Iberian Peninsula's other occupant should reinvent its cooking for a new generation and an international audience. Although not actually bordering the Mediterranean, Portugal's cooking shares many of the characteristics of Mediterranean cooking, presently lauded as an exceptionally tasty route to sound nutrition. Preferring fresh, seasonal ingredients, Leite lightens traditional Portuguese cooking, but he still reaches for the indigenous spicy smoked pork sausage, linguica. Soups play a prominent role, both chilled and hot, one containing great quantities of purslane. Portugal reconstructs Italy's ravioli, stuffing pasta squares with a pork and cheese puree. Leite offers a refined version of Portugal's classic salt cod that he believes even finicky children will relish. Lowly rice pudding gets a noble makeover, its unctuous sweetness made even richer by sandwiching it between layers of puff pastry. Mark Knoblauch
Knoblauch, Mark
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Knoblauch, Mark. "The New Portuguese Table: Exciting Flavors from Europe's Western Coast."
Booklist, 1 Sept. 2009, p. 23. PowerSearch, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc /A207943430/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS&xid=df85da19. Accessed 18 Jan. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A207943430
10 of 10 1/18/18, 10:51 PM
Tools
Print
Email
Email this
Share
The Splendid Table friend and contributor David Leite has had a rich award-winning career in culinary writing, but it turns out he wasn't always excited about food. For him, food has also been connected to his struggles with his weight, his complicated family life, sexuality, and mental illness, until he realized that feeding (and being fed by) his partner of 24 years could bring him back to his roots. Fellow contributor Shauna Sever talked with Dave about his revealing new memoir, Notes on a Banana: A Memoir of Food, Love and Manic Depression. [Ed. Note: Bring a taste of Portugal to your dinner table with David’s recipe for Azorean Kale and Bean Soup.]
Shauna Sever: Like a lot of people, I knew of your work, initially, from the food world. When I first picked up this book, I was expecting more of a traditional food memoir, but this is not that.
David Leite: No, it's not.
SS: There are so many more themes intertwined. You begin the book talking about your early childhood memories growing up in Fall River, Massachusetts, as part of a big Portuguese family. Can you tell us a about the family dynamic and the role that food played in your family?
DL: Sure. I was born in 1960. This was the sixties, and it was in one house – we called it a tenement. A tenement, back then, was a three-story house that was three apartments. We had a nice big yard and there was a vegetable garden in back. It was my mother, my father, and myself on the second floor, and my godmother, my godfather, and my cousin Barry on the first floor in the front. On the first floor in back was my grandmother and my grandfather. There were tons of cousins and all these relations that would always come over. My mother, father and I would have our meals – our dinners – but on Sundays, we'd all be together. There'd be nine, 12, 15 people altogether, sometimes the dinners would take place outside in the yard because there wasn't any room. It was always raucous, and, of course, there was tons of Portuguese food being served. There was codfish, rice, sausages and all different foods that we had.
But for me, from a very early age, I didn't want to eat Portuguese food. I didn't see anything about Portuguese food on television. I didn't see us being represented anywhere. I internalized this notion of Portuguese as being bad and Portuguese as not being American. Growing up I just wanted American food. I wanted Betty Crocker cakes with Betty Crocker frosting and anything you saw on television: Spam, Velveeta. Those are the things that I desperately wanted. I turned my nose up at a lot of foods when I was younger.
David Letie photo
David Leite
(Photo: Bob Carey)
SS: You do mention that in the book, calling it "wanting to be American by consumption." You mention some of these foods that gave you that feeling growing up. Why do you feel it was so important to you to separate yourself from your heritage in this way, through food?
DL: When I was very young, there seemed to be a lot of prejudice against the Portuguese coming over. I don't understand why because there were so many Portuguese living there. Maybe the Portuguese were the newest people on the lowest rung, therefore they were being picked on. They would say horrible things like "Portagee,” a very insulting phrase, or "pork chop." I saw the venom with which these invectives were spewed out at my family and other Portuguese families. I internalized that there was something wrong with us, and, up to that point, I didn't know anything but Portuguese. That was the first inkling that there was something different about us, and that embarrassed me.
SS: Later in the book, we learn about your challenges with mental illness for pretty much your entire life, your struggles with your sexuality for a number of years, and your battles with weight and self-image. Through it all, it seems that food was both your savior and a source of great anxiety.
DL: Food played many different roles. In the beginning, it was my nemesis. I wanted to get away from it. Like I said, I wanted all this American food that I saw on television, and when some of the mental illness started showing its face, I was having a lot of anxiety. At 11 and 12 years old, I started having panic attacks. Food was very comforting, and I would eat anything that was given to me. My grandmother and my mother would make anything, and I would eat Portuguese food, American food – anything that was put on the table because it was comfort for me. And then I went through a period where I lost a lot of weight. I was down to 169, but I told everyone 170 because that one pound – secret to me – was the most amazing thing – to know that I actually had a six in my weight – 169. And so, food became the enemy again, and I would not eat. I chose not to eat; I ate very little, and it was very difficult to embrace food. Then I met “The One,” who, in the book, everyone now finds out is Alan, and he turned my head around about food. I slowly began eating more and more. I got into the food world and ate more and more. I became the 180-degree opposite of what I was when I met Alan and became very overweight, which is what I'm struggling with now.
SS: Food seems to be a way to employ all of our senses. We all know that it can equally be stimulating, it can be distracting, it can be about connection. What, of those things – or maybe all of those things – do you feel either helped or made your mental illness more difficult?
DL: One of the things that food, and specifically the act of cooking food, did for me was it calmed me. It centered me; it gave me a point of focus. I say in the book that sometimes just watching butter slump in the pan as it was melting calmed me, and it gave me a sense of purpose. Another role that food played in my life is as a healer. It healed me, not just from consuming it and feeling better, but just the act of preparing it for others. A lot of times, I would cook and not even eat. It was just knowing that I was in the kitchen, and I could take these disparate ingredients and put something together, especially with baking – I love baking – and please others. It somehow gave me a lift, just a bit sometimes, but it would give me a lift. You were talking about the different senses, how sensate and sensual food is – all of that played a role, too. I would get lost in those smells and the sights and the tastes of it. It'd be a diversion momentarily, and sometimes that's all it took to get through the day.
SS: In your mid-thirties, you mention you meet your partner, Alan, whom you call "The One." He's still your One.
DL: Yes, he's still my one. He's still there, almost 24 years.
SS: That's wonderful. And food does play quite a role in your relationship, although I found it very interesting that his food experience with his family growing up was very different from yours. Tell us about that.
DL: Growing up for him, when he sat down at the table with his stepfather and his mother, was always fraught with a lot of emotion. There was a lot of anger. His stepfather was a very difficult person, and I didn't know this for quite a while, and then he revealed that to me. I was very surprised because he didn't seem to be scarred by that, as a lot of people would. But what came out of that, because he was always trying to duck out of the table as soon as he was done – he would just slink away so he wouldn't be seen by his stepfather. What that did was cause him to become a diner. He is a diner, and I come from a family of eaters. We eat. We are raucous, we are loud, we eat. Ten minutes after we're done, all the women in our family would clean up the table, and there was no sign that we ever had a meal. All the men were in the backyard sitting on folding chairs waiting for the next meal, and the kids were out in the street playing, getting hungry for the next meal. That's what we did. We just ate meal to meal to meal.
SS: That sounds familiar to me.
DL: And then, Alan comes along, and very early on, I realized we had to dine. At that point, I was still young, thin, and beautiful, eating nothing for dinner except either some pasta with low-calorie sauce or Fiber One cereal. But he had to light candles; he had to play music. It had to be China on the table. I couldn't have the cereal box in front of me and read the back of it like I did when I was a kid. It had to be poured into the bowl, milk had to be poured in, and we sat and talked. When we were done, he would push away, and he would expect us to continue talking, and I'm like, “What? We're going to sit at the table and continue talking? I have things to do. I have a life.” But that's not how he wanted his life to be based upon what his childhood was. We had a lot of grappling of this “diner versus eater” for the early parts of our relationship.
SS: And now, you cook and bake for each other often, calling it "love food."
DL: That's the name we gave the food very early on when we got together because we decided to cook for each other. He had a dish which was roast pork with apples, and I made an apple sour cream pie, and it was our first major meal that we did together. We made for each other. That repetition of that meal, which we made every Sunday for many weeks and then started adding other things to it, became our very first tradition as a couple, which was Sunday supper, which we still have.
David Leite Photo
Notes on a Banana
by David Leite
SS: There's a very powerful scene in the book I'd love for you to tell us about, where you talk about Alan making a certain cake for you that unearths some strong memories.
DL: Yes. This was my young, thin, and beautiful time. He decided to make a pineapple upside-down cake, and said, "Hey, do you want to lick the bowl?" When I took a swipe of the batter and tasted it, there was this Proustian moment that hurdled me back to my childhood, and I didn't know where. I couldn't place this taste. I picked up the bowl and smelled it. The smell of the butter and the flour all mixed together was so familiar. But I had never baked, and he had never baked for me before. So it wasn't something in our relationship. I called my mom, and I said, “Ma, did you ever bake?” And I knew the answer. She's like, "Come on, Banana! You know that I don't bake, but Vovó did." "Vovó" is "grandmother" in Portuguese. And I'm like, “She did?” She said, "Don't you remember? She used to pull up the chair to the stove, and you would stand on the chair, and you would cook and bake together." And these memories that I had forgotten – I was about 34 years old – just came flooding back to me, and a door was pried open to my past. All of that pushing down my Portuguese heritage, pushing down anything that had to do with my family and food just popped open with that smell and taste and that cake batter. I was enrolled in a baking class two weeks later.
SS: It was such a small thing that changed the course of your life, this waking up to realizing that you had positive food memories. At that point in the book, it really does start to almost have kind of a domino effect, I felt when I was reading it. And you take this trip to Portugal with The One who has you go to your grandmother's house, or the house where your grandmother used to live. Please tell us this story of the hidden oven. I just love this story.
DL: My family – both sides of my family – is from the island of São Miguel in the Azores, which are nine islands about 1,000 miles off the coast of Portugal. We had gone to São Miguel to the town of Maia, which is where my father's family is from. I had heard about this house since I was a kid: dirt floors, rough stone walls, an oven – a wall oven – and a pigsty in the back. Beyond that was the outhouse where the chickens would peck your butt when you did your business. Very rustic, very rural. I wanted to see the house, and it was owned by a cousin of my grandfather. We went and knocked on the door unannounced, and I said, in Portuguese, “I'm David Leite, the son of Emmanuel and Elvira Leite.” And the woman looked at me, and then there was this, "Ay, David!" She hugs me, and she took my head and brought it all the way down to her bosom – and she was about four feet tall – so I was bent way over.
She had us come in, but when I walked in it was a different house. It was this beautiful flooring, and there was this huge-screen television, and in the kitchen, it was all yellow appliances. It was just a modern kitchen. This woman – Elvira – had two daughters who spoke English, and I said, “Is the oven still there – the wall oven?” I had heard stories of how my Grandmother Leite – Vovó Leite – would cook in there, and that's also where they got some of their heat. There's this wonderful tradition in the neighborhood where my grandmother would bake bread, let's say on a Monday, and then someone else's mother would bake it on a Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday. So, when you ran out, you went to the person who baked that day to get a loaf of bread, and you would return that when it was your turn. I'd heard all these stories.
Elvira asked Alan and me to move the stove forward and then move this big, metal plate behind the stove away, and there was the stove. There was the brick oven, the wall oven, and it was an astounding moment for me because I connected with my family in a way that I never did before. I say that if roots could have come out of my feet and burrowed their way into the volcanic soil of that island, they would have because I finally felt that I was where I belonged, and it was an extraordinarily powerful moment for me.
Add a CommentListen to Full Episode
Shauna Sever
Shauna Sever
Shauna Sever is the author of three cookbooks (Marshmallow Madness!, Pure Vanilla and Real Sweet). She is the voice behind the baking blog Piece of Cake. She's appeared on the Today show, Food Network, Home and Family, Serious Eats, Chow and Ulive.com. Her writing and recipes have been featured in O, The Oprah Magazine, Food and Wine, Bon Appetit, Fine Cooking, Family Circle and USA Weekend.
The New Portuguese Table by David Leite
3c41ea2607c0db55130a1d59fd513cc339119f66?auto=compress&w=240&h=240&fit=crop
Faith Durand
Oct 2, 2009
Books & Media
Cookbooks
Email
Comment
Email
Comment
Portuguese food is a new interest for us. We have been increasingly fascinated by Portuguese wines, which much of the same character and value of Spanish wines, and so we've been also very interested in the food of the region. So we were just delighted to get a look at David Leite's mouthwateringly gorgeous new book on Portuguese classics made new in the global atmosphere of modern Portugal.
See More
Living
The Best Way to Store Any Fruit or Vegetable
Shopping list for first week in new kitchen
Living
A Shopping List for the First Week in Your New Kitchen
Living
I Tried the Instant Pot and Didn't Love It
Living
10 Easy Ways to Trick Yourself into Drinking More Water
Title & Publisher: The New Portuguese Table: Exciting Flavors from Europe's Western Coast , by David Leite. Published by Clarkson Potter, 2009.
First impressions: A wide, nearly square hardback book with a dust jacket and glossy pages. It's easily propped open, and the type is well set for visibility — with the exception of the ingredient lists, which are set in all caps, and therefore rather difficult to read at a glance. There are many photos; nearly every recipe has a temptingly-photographed image of the dish.
Number of recipes: About 95, split between the usual categories (Fish and Seafood, Vegetables and Rice, Poultry, Meat) with tantalizing extras that include Sundries (Cilantro Paste, Fish Stock, Smoked Paprika Oil) and Sweets and Liqueurs (Rosemary Custard, Sweet Lemon and and Black Olive Wafers, Milk Liqueur).
The angle: David Leite takes the Portuguese cooking of his family, which he was not enthusiastic about as a youth, and marries it to the more progressive and updated takes on modern Portuguese cuisine that he found in his travels there as an adult. He includes less than a hundred recipes. We appreciate that didn't he go for comprehensive coverage as much as an edited guide to the signature flavors of the region. As a result the book feels like one we'd like to cook through from cover to cover — a narrative of Portuguese cuisine, as opposed to an encyclopedia.
The other stuff: A short but helpful introduction that includes a guide to some Portuguese ingredients and cooking terms, with a special section on wine for Portuguese food.
Strengths: A passionate yet lucid approach to Portuguese cooking. There are plenty of recipes that don't call for too many hard-to-find ingredients, and that still have a good flair of something new. We like how Leite took some perhaps complicated dishes and made them friendly and fresh for newcomers to Portuguese cuisine. The photos are wonderful and a big asset to the book.
Recipes for right now: The Sweet Lemon and and Black Olive Wafers pictured above will be on our Christmas cookie plates. Also, we are dying to try the Milk Liqueur. Later today we will share recipes for duck with black olives, as well as an olive risotto. Other recipes to try: Pork Tenderloin in a Port-Prune Sauce, Fried Cornmeal, Spinach with Toasted Bread Crumbs, Salt Cod in a Potato Jacket, and Lemon-Mint Chicken Soup.
Recommended? Yes. It's gorgeous, lucid, and a great introduction to Portuguese cooking.
• Buy the book: The New Portugese Table, David Leite - $21 at Amazon
• Visit David Leite's food website: Leite's Culinaria
More 2009 Book Reviews
• Asian Dumplings by Andrea Nguyen
• Clean Food by Terry Walters
• On Food & Cooking by Harold McGee
• Secrets from My Tuscan Kitchen by Judy Witts Francini
• The Perfect Fruit by Chip Brantley
• Heard it Through the Grapevine by Matt Skinner
• Big Food by Elissa Altman
• Edible Schoolyard by Alice Waters
• The River Cottage Meat Book by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
• Milk by Anne Mendelson
• The New Steak by Cree LeFavour
• A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg
• Fresh Food From Small Places by R. J. Ruppenthal
• Eat Feed Autumn Winter by Anne Bramley
• Heirloom Beans by Steve Sando of Rancho Gordo
Cook the Book: 'The New Portuguese Table'
Caroline Russock
Profile Twitter Facebook Email
20100809thenewportuguesetable.jpgWhile I like to consider myself fairly familiar with European cuisines, there is one country where my food knowledge is shamefully lacking. If you were to ask me about Portuguese cuisine, I might be able to mumble something about salt cod and Vihno Verde but apart from that, I'd be entirely out of answers.
But this week all of that is about to change. We're going to share a week's worth of recipes from David Leite's The New Portuguese Table, traveling through the country's 11 provinces and learning all about their distinctly Mediterranean cuisine.
Even if you aren't familiar with Portuguese food, chances are you already know David Leite. As a contributor to virtually every food media outlet out there, winner of multiple James Beard awards, and founder of his namesake website Leite's Culinaria, Leite has taken it upon himself to share the cuisine of Portugal. While the country and its food might seem exotic and unfamiliar at first, Leite is quick to inform us that the majority of ingredients (fresh fish, olive oil, tomatoes, bay leaves, cilantro) are readily available and the recipes are simple, hearty and satisfying.
This week our Portuguese table is going to be laid out with quite a spread including Fried Stuffed Olives, Azorean Kale, Sausage, and Bean Soup, and "Russians" Nut Cakes and Milk Liqueur for dessert.
Win 'The New Portuguese Table'
Thanks to the generous folks over at Clarkson Potter, we are giving away five (5) copies of The New Portuguese Table this week. All you have to do is tell us about your a cuisine that you wish you knew more about in the comments section below.
Caroline Russock Cookbook czarina, Philadelphia area cocktail correspondent
Profile Twitter Facebook Email
Columns
Cook the Book
Bake the Book
Drink the Book
Weekend Cook and Tell
David Leite’s Notes on a Banana Delivers the Best Portrait of Bipolar Disorder. I Would Know.
By B. David Zarley | April 12, 2017 | 2:02pm
Books Features david leite
David Leite’s Notes on a Banana Delivers the Best Portrait of Bipolar Disorder. I Would Know.
Like the great ocean gyres that are the engines of the world, life is often driven by currents of motivation and dreams. A memoir, being the written life of its author, requires currents as well, lest its prose sit torpid.
Availing itself to a particularly troublesome current is David Leite’s memoir Notes on a Banana, which is, as one would expect from a James Beard winner, about food, and, as one would expect from the son of Azorean immigrants, about being Portuguese, and, as one would expect from a gay man, about sexuality. But in totality, it’s truly about manic depression. Bipolar II, to be specific, the form of the disorder marked by deep depressive modes and hypomanic episodes (hypomania being, as Leite describes it, “a watercolor version of bright-neon manias”). It is the alternating currents of depression and hypomania that have galvanized and rendered black Leite’s life, a perpetual rolling brownout.
Notes on a Banana is one of the finest portraits of bipolar disorder I have ever read.
I would know.
Much has been written about depression and anxiety, two fairly common mental health disorders that can be situational. Someone who has never presented signs of a mental health disorder can auger in to depression via a death or divorce, and they can feel the white-hot iron maiden of anxiety when experiencing an extraordinary enough scenario. Leite’s writings can be added to the Depression/Anxiety Canon.
1notesbananacover.jpg But it’s at the opposite end of the bipolar spectrum—mania—where Leite truly shines. His depictions, from being Touched by the Lord in a library at Carnegie Mellon to his repeated revelations that he is the Most Special and Supreme Individual in the World (there will be much capitalizing in this essay, something Leite will most definitely understand), join a too-small list of examples.
Let me add some, then, to the list.
Hypomania, gloriously brilliant hypomania, is driving forth these very words you are reading. It put me in the gym this morning and knocked out almost every item on my to-do list before 11 a.m. Hypomania is a charming, hot energy—the feeling after a good run or a successful project or making out—a boundless power which is yours to harness. Hypomania is coveted; it’s the one shining, wonderful thing to be taken out of bipolar disorder. For me, at least, it’s the Gift I receive in exchange for the brutal depression and brief psychotic breaks.
Mania is, as Leite described, neon. If I am full-blown manic, I am All; I am the Greatest Writer Who Ever Lived, I am a Deity and, as such, require My Pronouns and Titles to be capitalized. I rive skulls, rend nature, exert Myself upon the universe, Intelligence and Sex and Creativity, a Perfect Creature, Napoleon, immune to even heat-death, My mind red-shifting, driven by murmuring voices which I can hear but never make out. I am a Run-On Sentence, a Living James Joyce Passage, and I file essays with 386 word lede sentences, which are, really, as apt a metaphor as I am able to offer, a truly definite porthole, in My Indomitable Opinion; I am Ego, Great and Powerful and Right Ego, gloriously and deliriously thrilled with Me, Myself, the complete and utter inverse of bitter depression, I’m not good enough, not smart enough, not pretty enough, flipped and reversed and shot screaming up in to the night like a bullet, a Catherine Wheel, a cruise missile, a Saturn V, the Immolating Flight of the Wendigo, the very thoughts and prayers and animus of the Earth and creation itself, King of the Towering Peak with tears lashing My eyes, and everything laid out before Me, for Me, to be manipulated by Me; I am Galactus.
I was manic the night that track and field athlete Florence Griffith-Joyner attempted to speak with me, via articles and quotations and YouTube videos, my mind the color of her speed suits. I desperately scoured everything I could about her, attempting to piece together what I was so certain she was saying (we were both sprinters; does it not make some semblance of sense?). It was the most important search of my life, until the next morning when it was completely forgotten.
I was manic when I woke up on the Fourth of July in a studio apartment-cum-oven-cum-movie, everything a hazy sheen of unreality, a day which I remember only as lens flares and sepia tone and fireworks over Lake Michigan on a distant horizon, a day I observed more than lived, a pilot in an ersatz machine, a psychotic break.
I was manic back on Water Street, living in a house for my second senior year of college with dear friends, running from room to room to find the TV that I thought was on before realizing what I was hearing was only for My ears (a sympathetic friend and marijuana made for a pleasant descent).
It is mania that sends text after text after text after text after text after text to patient, patient people who should have their hagiography written by Me (because I owe them, but also because I’m the World’s Best Writer) and that hangs Me in front of every mirror, car window, subway door, Snapchat camera and reflection in the worried eyes of those I ask for their opinion on My Hair, a fixation on which hangs the currents of my moods.
I (so much I, so much Me!, so many exclamation points, My beloved punctuation affectation, right there with—ah, here’s one, I felt like I could not have filed this essay without it—the em dash) tell you these moments for, I suspect, a similar reason Leite does: not to engender sympathy, but understanding.
And, more importantly in My case, for the simple narcissistic release of writing them down.
B. David Zarley is a freelance journalist, essayis, and book/art critic based in Chicago. A former book critic for The Myrtle Beach Sun News, his work can be seen in Hazlitt, Sports Illustrated, The Chicago Reader, VICE Sports, The Creators Project, Sports on Earth and New American Paintings, among numerous other publications. You can find him on Twitter or at his website.
Notes on a Banana by David Leite (a memoir of food, love, and manic depression)
06/30/2017 11:29 am ET
We live in a tell-all world, yet we are taught from a very young age to keep our dirty little secrets to ourselves. And the dirtier we believe our secret is, the more deeply hidden we keep it, even more so if we are a public figure or consider that it might hurt our professional reputation. Letting it go, exposing ourselves and our innermost secrets to the world is a tricky, delicate balance and it takes skill, tenderness, and humor. David Leite does it masterfully in his memoir Notes on a Banana.
David carefully weaves his childhood combat to become the ideal all-American boy (as seen on tv), his agonizing battle to come to terms with his gayness (including conversion therapy), and his lifelong, daily struggle living with bipolar syndrome (a Disneyesque roller coaster ride) into a cohesive, emotional, and very relatable tale. Notes on a Banana is engaging, tender, warm and witty, and I found myself smiling, nodding my head in empathy and understanding, unable to put the book down from beginning to happy, satisfying end.
I’ve known David, well-known food writer and cookbook author, publisher of the James Beard Award-winning website Leite’s Culinaria , for a long time. I’ve been reading his writing for ages, and I knew that he wanted to get this all off of his chest, so to speak, for a long time. A writer writes, after all.
I want to write about being bipolar, he told me several years ago in Paris. Alan, his better half, was shaking his head no. But it’s a delicate subject, even more so than my coming out publicly as gay. I don’t know if I’ll lose readers if I admit to having a mental illness; it’s an uncomfortable topic to talk about. Alan thinks it’s a mistake. David, like Alan, knew that bringing both his sexuality and being bipolar out into the open might very well tarnish his image as a food writer to some of his fans. Having my own deeply buried, dark inner demons that I have never revealed, I encouraged him to embrace the courage that I lacked. If he felt that being bipolar, like his being gay, was a part of who he was, what made him him, then his readers would accept it. Would want to know. I had no doubt that such a talented writer would find the right way to do it. And if this could create a discussion about mental illness, then it was even more important that he write about it.
With David Leite
When I finally read his memoir Notes on a Banana - a charming reference to the daily notes of love and encouragement his mother would pen onto a banana and leave for him to find - I realized that all the buzz and clamor the reviewers and interviewers have been making about this being a candid, bold confession about bipolar disorder that has brought the discussion to the forefront just didn’t sit quite well with me. Although it did reveal in detail so much about it, I didn’t like that David’s memoir was being pigeonholed into a book on mental illness. It is so very much more.
David grew up in a traditional home surrounded by family and friends, noise and food, lots of food. His parents encouraged him to grab at every opportunity and his passions. He had a childhood and youth that many would envy. But his life was a tightrope balance between the joy of growing up Portuguese-American, the only and much-loved son of Azorean immigrants, and a vibrant childhood and feeling that something was very wrong. Notes on a Banana skillfully captures the delight and the anxiety, the depression and the mania, the constant search for contentment, for inner peace, and for himself that David, like so many of us, lived. David takes us along for the ride of his life, from growing up on American tv and Portuguese cuisine in the armpit of Massachusetts to his first unexpected sexual encounter, through his years bouncing from one college to another, dabbling in acting and working high above Manhattan in Windows on the World, from therapist to conversion therapy, from discovering sex to finding love.
I loved this book because it captured and embraced all of this, everything about life, the love and the food, the discontent and confusion of childhood, the searching and self-discovery, the struggles and exploration and rebellion. If we could have all had just one problem to deal with and resolve, wouldn’t life have been easy? But for many of us, like David, life was - and still is - a chaotic soup of problems and failures, blurred by the love of family and friends, the opportunities we have, and flavored with the joy of cooking and eating. David shows in Notes on a Banana how very messy life is, how sad and difficult the battles we navigate while enjoying the pleasures of achievement and family. And how we can find one simple focus - for David it was Julia Child and cooking - that will allow us the chance to heal, and how we can, through it all, find love, happiness, balance, and ourselves.
David Leite’s writing is like he is, vivacious, generous, smart, an inviting blend of emotion, thought, and humor; his storytelling pulls the reader in and entertains. Notes on a Banana, like its author, can be quirky and outrageous, thoughtful and thought provoking, always optimistic. David’s sly, oftentimes rousing sense of humor is at once self-deprecating and warm, full of love while we chuckle at the quirks and vagaries of those around him. And, yes, it is also evocative, as a memoir should be, episodes and descriptions of being bipolar stirring up this reader’s own memories of depression, anxiety, and terror, effectively creating an open and much-needed discussion of mental illness and how so many of us live with it everyday. And, of course, with Notes on a Banana, there is always the happy ending.
Jamie Schler lives, writes, and owns a hotel in France. She’s the author of the soon-to-be-released cookbook Orange Appeal. To read more of her work visit Life’s a Feast.
Notes On a Banana by David Leite
0 · May 17, 2017 · Leave a Comment
When I heard that David Leite from Leite’s Culinaria had a book coming out, I knew that I wanted to read it. David is a very successful food blogger and I wanted to sink my teeth into whatever it was that he had written. Perhaps I could learn something from his book, I thought. What I thought I would get out of his book, Notes On a Banana: A Memoir of Food, Love, and Manic Depression, and what I did get out of the book were two different things.
The Banana
There are no recipes or full-color pictures in David’s book. It’s not a cookbook. Instead, it tells the story of his life starting with his early memories growing up in Massachusetts as the son of immigrants from the Azores. The title of the book is a reference to the notes on bananas that his mother would leave him, always letting him know that she loved him. Although he grew up in a loving home, something plagued David from an early age that caused him to panic.
There’s A Girl
We learn that while David was at Carnegie Mellon University studying acting, he met a Big-Eyed Girl named Bridget. The two of them became very close and David even started picturing them married with a couple of children. Bridget was David’s rock when his disorder would flare up. Though he loved her and wanted to change for her, he could not get past his attraction for men.
Food
Throughout Notes On a Banana, David beautifully interweaves how food has played a large part of his life, from large family meals when he was a child to the meals he prepared for a CMU professor’s family to working in an upper-class restaurant in one of the twin towers.
It’s Heartfelt
David wrote his memoir from the heart, sharing things that many might consider taboo in today’s society, such as mental illness and homosexuality. Don’t let that stop you from reading this good book. David writes beautifully and openly about his life. Notes On a Banana is very enlightening about one man’s struggle to find love and sanity. It’s worth reading.
Look for Notes On a Banana at your local bookstore or at Amazon.com.
Mental Health
The World Health Organization estimates that 1 in 4 will be affected by mental or neurological disorders at some point in their lives. If you or someone you know is struggling with mental illness, please seek help now. Below are a few links for more information.
MentalHealth.gov
National Alliance on Mental Illness (Bipolar Disorder)
0
ood. Love. Manic Depression. This interview warmed my heart AND gave me some serious things to think about in my own "rollercoaster" world. A big thanks to David Leite for amazing work with "Notes on a Banana," and for his kindness, compassion and light in this world.
About David and "Notes on a Banana"
In one of spring’s most poignant, astonishingly courageous, and unapologetically hilarious titles, three- time James Beard Award-winner David Leite brings a dash of Anthony Bourdain, Augusten Burroughs, and Kay Redfield Jamison to his memoir, NOTES ON A BANANA: A Memoir of Food, Love, and Manic Depression (Dey Street; April 11, 2017; ISBN: 9780062414373).
In a true tale that dazzles, touches the heart, and inspires, three-time James Beard Award winner David Leite lays it all on the table.
Born into a devoutly Catholic, food-crazed family of Azorean immigrants in 1960s Fall River, Massachusetts, David had a childhood that was the stuff of sitcoms. But what no one knew was that this smart-ass, determined dreamer with a vivid imagination also struggled with the frightening mood swings of bipolar disorder. To cope, “Banana,” as his mother endearingly called him, found relief and comfort in food, watching reruns of Julia Child, and, later as an adult, cooking for others. It was only in his midthirties, after years of desperate searching, did he finally uncover the truth about himself, receive proper medical treatment, and begin healing.
Throughout the narrative, David takes the reader along on the exhilarating highs and shattering lows of his life, with his trademark sense of humor: We watch as he slams the door on his Portuguese heritage in favor of blond-haired, blue-eyed WASPdom; pursues stardom with a near-pathological relentlessness; realizes he’s gay and attempts to “turn straight” through Aesthetic Realism, a cult in downtown Manhattan; battles against dark and bitter moods; delights in his twenty-plus year relationship with Alan (known to millions of David’s online readers as “The One”); and shares the people, dishes, and events that shaped him.
NOTES ON A BANANA is at once a tender look at growing up, a candid take on the power of selfacceptance, and an unflinching tale of the hell of mental illness. David’s story is brutally honest and necessary, creating a sense of universality and enduring hope that today’s readers need more than ever.
David Leite has tackled everything from chocolate chip cookies to Welsh cakes, from the foods of Portugal to the tribulations of being a super taster—for print, radio, and television. In 1999, he founded the website Leite’s Culinaria, and in 2006 he had the distinction of being the first winner ever of a James Beard Award for a website, a feat he repeated in 2007. The following year, he won his third James Beard Award for his article on fried clams for the New York Times. His first book, THE NEW PORTUGUESE TABLE: Exciting Flavors from Europe’s Western Coast, explored the food of his heritage and won the 2010 IACP First Book/Julia Child Award. David is also a regular correspondent and guest host on NPR’s “The Splendid Table.” He splits his time between Connecticut and New York, but will travel anywhere for a good meal.
David on Social
Web: http://leitesculinaria.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/davidleite
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davidjosephleite/
The Podcast on Social:
Twitter - http://twitter.com/thesame24hours
Instagram - http://instagram.com/same24hourspodcast
Web: www.Same24HoursPodcast.com
Mailing List: https://form.jotform.us/70326661605150
Want to be a Guest?
Contact: same24hourspodcast@gmail.com
Sign up for Podcast Updates:
https://form.jotform.us/70326661605150
Producer: Carl Stover Music
Host: Meredith Atwood
Copyright 2017, Meredith Atwood, LLC
How a food writer struggling with mental illness found comfort through cooking
By Lauren Effron
Apr 19, 2017, 4:00 AM ET
Author David Leite, left, is seen here with ABC News Dan Harris, right, during a live discussion for the "10% Happier" podcast.
ABC News
Watch10% Happier: David Leite, food writer, memoirist
When David Leite was a young boy, his mother used to write notes all over a banana every morning and leave them at his seat at the breakfast table. She called him "banana head" for fun, he said, and every day, there would be a new message from her.
Interested in 10% Happier?
Add 10% Happier as an interest to stay up to date on the latest 10% Happier news, video, and analysis from ABC News.
10% Happier
Add Interest
“One end of the banana would say, ‘God bless,’ the other side would say, ‘We love you,'” and then the middle part, which was the big real estate, was anything going on that day, 'Have a good day,' 'Break a leg' if it was school drama club, 'Do well on geometry test,' whatever was going on that day,” Leite said. “It was kind of a way to kind of lift my spirits and I call it the 1960s version of Snapchat. It’s there, you eat it, it’s gone.”
Leite, a Portuguese-American food writer, drew from his mother's morning ritual for the title of his new book, “Notes on a Banana: A Memoir of Food, Love and Manic Depression.” Although his memoir is steeped in humor, Leite writes at length about his lifelong struggle with mental illness. He shared his story during a live taping of ABC News' Dan Harris’ “10% Happier” podcast in New York City.
“I had a lot of anxiety,” Leite said. “I had a panic attack starting at 11 years old, I mean, true, full-blown panic attacks, and then I would also have these periods where I was -- just dark, bleak, punitive thoughts going through my head. I couldn’t lift myself up.”
Subscribe and listen to the "10% Happier" podcast on iTunes, Google Play Music, TuneIn, on ABC Radio podcasts and under the "Listen" tab on the ABC News app.
Mario Batali talks plans for a food theme park and how meditation helped calm his temper
Chef Eric Ripert on how Buddhism changed the way he operates in the kitchen
All '10% Happier' interviews
By the time he was a teenager, Leite said his depression became so severe that he went to his mother and asked for help.
“I told my mother, ‘If you do not let me see a psychiatrist, I will kill myself,’” Leite said. “And I knew that I wouldn’t kill myself but I knew it was the only way that I could, as a 13-and-a-half-year-old, explain to an adult how desperate this was and I was in a doctor’s office in a matter of weeks.”
The first diagnosis he received was for generalized anxiety disorder. He said one doctor recommended Valium, but he and his parents didn’t want him to take it. Leite tried changing his diet and exercise routine, but eventually he turned to writing as an outlet.
After years of trying to sort out his feelings, Leite said he came to believe he was suffering from manic depression and went to see a doctor, who then gave him a diagnosis of bipolar II disorder and got him on proper medication after some trial and error.
“When that happened, I felt as if all this armor that I had been carrying around since I was 11 just fell off me in pieces,” Leite said. “I was no longer fighting this invisible enemy, and that’s why I feel that was kind of like a second birthday for me.”
Sort of by accident, Leite also found some healing through cooking. He said fell into it after leaving Carnegie Mellon University and taking a job as a family cook for a professor.
“I knew nothing about cooking,” Leite said. “[The professor] says, ‘So you’ve cooked before?’ and, I like, ‘Yes, of course, I have,’ which was technically true. And he said, ‘You cooked for others?’ and I’m like, ‘Yes,’ which was technically true, I had cooked for other people.”
But Leite was hired and cooked for the professor’s family for three hours a day, five days a week. Through prepping the family’s meals, Leite realized how soothing it was for him.
“It was that rhythmic, ‘tock, tock, tock,’ of the knife, just chopping through herbs or doing something that just slowed me down,” he said. “Time became very elastic ... time stretched so much that there were these breaks in time where just a little bit of happiness come through. And that was the first step.
“I talk in the book about how just watching a pat of butter heat and start to melt and just slump to the side of the cast iron skillet was just comforting to me,” Leite continued. “It slowed me and made me feel grounded.”
In his book, Leite also talks about navigating relationships and coming to terms with being gay as a young adult. He credits his partner, whom he refers to as “The One,” for helping him through some of the “major times” when he said his life “fell apart” and for encouraging his food writing career. Leite is the publisher of the website Leite’s Culinaria, which has won two James Beard awards.
Leite decided to write this memoir, he said, to share with others the inner war he has long waged with himself.
“I just thought I have nothing to lose by telling the story,” he said. “I cannot battle myself back to ... being straight. ... I can't battle myself to not having mental illness. I cannot battle myself to being blonde hair, blue-eyed and be adopted by Samantha Stephens and Darren Stephens of ‘Bewitched.’ I cannot do that. But that's what the whole book's about. It's me trying.”
David Leite’s New memoir is “Notes On a Banana”
04/10/2017 by ABH Leave a Comment
Please join us when David returns for a book discussion of this book on Thursday June 15th with our Book Group.
Byrd’s Books welcomed back author David Leite in celebration of his memoir, “Notes on a Banana: A Memoir of Food, Love, and Manic Depression”. For those of us who were fortunate enough to attend David’s author talk on his last book, “The New Portuguese Table” we got a preview of this new, wonderful book.
Released by Harper Collins April 11th:
The stunning and long-awaited memoir from the beloved founder of the James Beard Award-winning website Leite s Culinaria a candid, courageous, and at times laugh-out-loud funny story of family, food, mental illness, and sexual identity.
Born into a family of Azorean immigrants, David Leite grew up in the 1960s in a devoutly Catholic, blue-collar, food-crazed Portuguese home in Fall River, Massachusetts. A clever and determined dreamer with a vivid imagination and a flair for the dramatic, “Banana” as his mother endearingly called him, obsessed over proper hair care, yearned to live in a middle-class house with a swinging kitchen door like the ones on television, and fell in love with everything French, thanks to his Portuguese and French-Canadian godmother. But David also struggled with the emotional devastation of bipolar disorder. Until he was diagnosed in his mid-thirties, David found relief from his wild mood swings in cooking, Julia Child, and a Viking stove he named “Thor.”
Notes on a Banana is his heartfelt, unflinchingly honest, yet tender memoir of growing up, accepting himself, and turning his love of food into an award-winning career. Reminiscing about the people and events that shaped him, David looks back at the highs and lows of his life: from his rejection of being gay and his attempt to “turn straight” through Aesthetic Realism, a cult in downtown Manhattan, to becoming a writer, cookbook author, and web publisher, to his twenty-three-year relationship with Alan, known to millions of David s readers as “The One,” which began with (what else?) food. Woven throughout these stories are the dishes David loves the tastes that led him to happiness, health, and success.
A blend of Kay Redfield Jamison s An Unquiet Mind, the food memoirsof Ruth Reichl, Anthony Bourdain, and Gabrielle Hamilton, and the character-rich storytelling of Augusten Burroughs, David Sedaris, and Jenny Lawson, Notes on a Banana is a feast that dazzles, delights, and, ultimately, heals.
About the author:
The winner of multiple James Beard awards, Leite grew up in a blue-collar Portuguese home in Fall River, MA, longing for middle-class stability and struggling with bipolar disorder, which was not diagnosed until his mid-thirties. Meanwhile, he threw himself into cooking.
My review of the book on Goodreads:
In a beautifully written memoir of self-discovery, David Leite takes us on a journey of finding the true balance in his heritage, his sexual orientation, his bi-polar disorder and his deep and abiding love of food. With the anchor of strong family and culture, the author mines the depths of mental illness and the aching journey of diagnosis to find balance and, ultimately, happiness. From the author of the James Beard Award-winning website Leite’s Culinaria, David Leite has given us a feast of a journey to devour in this piercing memoir.
Would like a signed book? Click HERE, and pick it up at the store.
Would you like a signed book mailed to you or a friend? Click HERE.
‘Notes on a Banana’ takes readers on coming-of-age journey
Search
Search Keyword:
Latest Videos
Bieber's Mom Defends Him After Selena's Mom Speaks Out
E! Online
Meghan Markle Is Already Living That Princess Life
E! Online
Things You Should Know About Singer (and Rumored Millie Bobby Brown...
Billboard
Bieber's Mom Defends Him After Selena's Mom Speaks Out
E! Online
Meghan Markle Is Already Living That Princess Life
E! Online
More videos:
Meghan Markle Is Already Living That Princess Life
Things You Should Know About Singer (and Rumored Millie Bobby Brown Boyfriend) Jacob Sartorius | Billboard News
Bieber's Mom Defends Him After Selena's Mom Speaks Out
Meghan Markle Is Already Living That Princess Life
Things You Should Know About Singer (and Rumored Millie Bobby Brown Boyfriend) Jacob Sartorius | Billboard News
Bieber's Mom Defends Him After Selena's Mom Speaks Out
Meghan Markle Is Already Living That Princess Life
Things You Should Know About Singer (and Rumored Millie Bobby Brown Boyfriend) Jacob Sartorius | Billboard News
Bieber's Mom Defends Him After Selena's Mom Speaks Out
Recommended
Supporters of arming icebreakers note that the Coast Guard ships are the only American heavy vessels able to traverse the massive glaciers and ice drifts that pockmark the Arctic waterways, but opponents say it sends a dangerous signal to Russia. (Associated Press/File)
Arctic cold war? Coast Guard prepping to carry cruise missiles on icebreakers amid Russian buildup
obj.0.content_object.caption
Quiz: How well do you know your guns?
South Koreans bristle at uniting with North for Olympic Games
f-15strike_eagle_primary_image.jpg
Top 10 U.S. fighter jets
SPONSORED CONTENT
Commentary
staff
Wesley Pruden
An Olympian break in the war between the words
staff
Charles Hurt
Jeff Flake’s attack on President Trump isn’t just fake news — it’s stupid news
staff
Tammy Bruce
Obama’s doctor says Trump is in excellent health, killing the liberal dream of his ‘incapacity’
View all
Question of the Day
Do you want to see a government shutdown?
Question of the Day
Yes
No
Not sure
View results
Story TOpics
David Leite
This cover image released by Dey Street shows "Notes on a Banana: A Memoir of Food, Love and Manic Depression," by David Leite. (Dey Street via AP)
This cover image released by Dey Street shows “Notes on a Banana: A Memoir of Food, Love and Manic Depression,” by David Leite. (Dey Street via AP) more >
Print
By TRACEE M. HERBAUGH - Associated Press - Tuesday, April 18, 2017
“Notes on a Banana: A Memoir of Food, Love, and Manic Depression” (Dey Street), by David Leite
Much has been contributed to the cannon of first-person literature on anxiety and mental health disorders.
But David Leite, a James Beard Award-winning food writer and cookbook author, offers a witty account to the trove with his new memoir, “Notes on a Banana: A Memoir of Food, Love, and Manic Depression.”
Leite takes the reader on a coming-of-age journey - from his childhood in the blue-collar city of Fall River, Massachusetts, to a working professional in New York City.
First, Leite grew up in a devoutly Catholic and food-crazed Azorean family. “Food. It was one of the ways we bonded,” he writes.
In this traditional Portuguese family, living in what he calls the “armpit of Massachusetts,” Leite learned to be a big dreamer. In fact, dreaming is what sustained him throughout a childhood that was speckled with transgressions like a neighbor’s sexual advances. The whole time, Leite is struggling to understand the range of his emotions that seems to run higher and lower than what he believes to be the normal spectrum.
As a nod to the book’s title, his mother often referred to her son affectionately as “banana.” She also writes brief messages on bananas for her son. One of these messages is “Jesus loves you!”
Admittedly, his mother “is a blood hound for Jesus,” he writes. “She can sniff out sin before it happens the way some people smell burnt toast before a seizure.”
Complicating his early teen years, Leite starts becoming aware of the fact that he’s gay. This isn’t something he shares with his parents until he’s an adult and in a relationship with his long-term partner, Alan, many years later.
Leite’s dreaming and ambition propelled him to a considerable amount of success as a writer for the likes of Bon Appetite and other glossy magazines. He eventually started his own website, Leite’s Culinaria, for which he won the coveted James Beard Award - twice.
Logophiles will appreciate the author’s expansive vocabulary and readers will enjoy Leite’s ability to bring levity to a host of serious - and sometimes sad - subjects.
The book gives a universal account of complications that many lives encounter, but “Notes on a Banana” brings levity and humor to the hardships the author recounts.