---
product_id: 111514198
title: "REFLEXIONS Paperback – Illustrated, August 31, 2001"
brand: "richard olney"
price: "11.25 OMR"
currency: OMR
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 10
url: https://www.desertcart.com.om/products/111514198-reflexions-paperback-illustrated-august-31-2001
store_origin: OM
region: Oman
---

# REFLEXIONS Paperback – Illustrated, August 31, 2001

**Brand:** richard olney
**Price:** 11.25 OMR
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** REFLEXIONS Paperback – Illustrated, August 31, 2001 by richard olney
- **How much does it cost?** 11.25 OMR with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.com.om](https://www.desertcart.com.om/products/111514198-reflexions-paperback-illustrated-august-31-2001)

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- richard olney enthusiasts

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## Description

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## Images

![REFLEXIONS Paperback – Illustrated, August 31, 2001 - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71KnLGxxGlL.jpg)
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![REFLEXIONS Paperback – Illustrated, August 31, 2001 - Image 3](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/31z5x8t5XuL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 out of 5 stars







  
  
    "The best palate on the planet"
  

*by G***Y on Reviewed in the United States on April 9, 2000*

This is a wonderful, deeply moving, highly informative, chronicle and gastronomic autobiography, based mainly on letters and menus, supplemented by personal memories. It will not find a large audience, but for those  interested in French food and wine, and especially in Olney himself, it  should be owned and will be treasured.Richard Olney was a highly  sensitive Iowa boy who intended to be an expatriot portrait painter in  France, but became instead one of the world's most authoritative tasters,  writers and thinkers about French cuisine and wines. He had, simply, the  best palate on the planet; he wrote beautifully and precisely about taste,  cooking, and winemaking; he lived eccentrically in the south of France all  his adult life; he was slowly discovered by the French, British, and  American food establishments, knew everyone therein and was clearly loved  and admired by the best of them; thus he gained a devoted following and  immense influence through his many books. This book is unfinished; Olney  died suddenly of a heart attack in August, 1999.Olney's critiques of  Julia Child, James Beard, M.F.K. Fisher, and even Craig Claiborne; and his  adoring friendships with Simone Beck, Elizabeth David, Kermit Lynch, Lulu  Peyraud and many others; are carefully and reliably described, always on  the basis of evidence. The exhaustive details of memorable meals--e.g.,  pairings of food and wine--are richly informative and edifying for  knowledgeable and experienced readers (which his cookbook readers are).  People who are not already interested in these subjects probably will not  find enough other material to justify buying this book.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 out of 5 stars







  
  
    Enter the life of a genius
  

*by T***K on Reviewed in the United States on October 3, 2018*

One of the most influential but under-rated food and wine sages of recent times. He is - was  - also a gifted writer and raconteur. Forthright, a little naughty, but always stylish and unfailingly honest. James Beard and Julia Child are revealed for what they were. And Elizabeth David and Alice Waters, Paul Bertolli. Lulu, Simca and Kermit shine through. As do his many other friends. You need to understand a little about food and wine to really get into this book but you will be amply rewarded. And go and but The Good Cook series. I have all of them

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.0 out of 5 stars







  
  
    Ouch!
  

*by R***. on Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2003*

Egads, here by his own hand we see for ourselves what a nasty, petty, vindictive man Mr. Olney was. On and on and on we read of "friendships" with people he can't stand, yet who stay in his life year after year after year. Why, we wonder?Mr. Olney reveals himself to be a loner, probably not very happy in the world, who lived off a family allowance or inheritance (we're never quite sure) until the early 1970s when his reputation for being someone who knows food and wine launches him into cookbook writing (generally successfully, though not a real "name" like, say, Julia Child or M.F.K. Fisher -- both of whom he detests).What we're left with here is a self-portrait of a man who didn't fit in, who was elitist, and petty, and mean-spirited; and the one pleasure of this book is that he's SO nasty we can't look away until the end -- like watching a car accident.The early part of the book works well as a portrait of a young homosexual painter with a trust fund "struggling" as he eeks out a Bohemian living before finding and moving into a house in the countryside. Again and again we are told of people trying to seduce him and yet he never takes anyone up on this. What, are we to believe he never had sex after his first black lover and he part ways?This functions well as a look into the catty inner circle of the food world, but in the end, all I felt was pity for Mr. Olney; a man of rarefied (and elitist) tastes who never fit in, and who seemed to take pleasure only in the superficial and strength only in his own feeling of innate superiority.Perhaps, I'm wrong, but that's the way it reads in this book -- which by the way starts out like a book and then becomes mostly a collection of diary entries and letter excerpts.Glad I read it. You may find it interesting, as I did. But I did not LIKE Mr. Olney at all reading between the lines, and I suspect that's why he has so much antipathy toward seemingly everyone, because they didn't like him either.

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*Product available on Desertcart Oman*
*Store origin: OM*
*Last updated: 2026-03-01*