"Entertaining" Revisited

Martha's iconic first book, Entertaining, is being reissued this fall in its exact original format. Below are some thoughts on the book and its legacy. 

I was six years old when “Entertaining” was first published. It was not a book in my parents’ library, and I didn’t get my first copy until I was in my early 20s – a first edition that was badly dogeared that had very clearly been enjoyed by someone else for years. I got a more pristine copy a few years later at a bookstore in Toronto. The woman who sold it to me smiled broadly when I paid for it, saying she too had the book at home and looked at it every year during the holidays. I still have both of my copies and I treasure them.

The book will be re-published on November 4th, 2025, in its exact original format. Order here.

Full disclosure: I have only made one recipe from this book (a pillowy, heart-shaped confection for Valentine’s Day called Coeur a la Crème) and yet it is very much a special part of my book collection. Entertaining is special because of its significance in the arc of Martha's career - her first book, the first time she put pen to paper to document a style of entertaining that was beloved by everyone she had worked with as a caterer but that had not yet reached the American reader. It is also special because of its uniqueness in the world of publishing. It was the first cookbook to use full-page colour photography and the first book that blended cookery with elements of lifestyle: inspiration for table settings, flower arrangements, gardening advice, and guidance for hosting a party at home, whether it was an intimate gathering for four to six or a special occasion for dozens of guests. 

What the book really represents to me, at its core, is imagination. Each page is filled with an inspiring display of Martha’s sense of wonder for the world around her; her curiosity about unusual ingredients, her ability to source inspiration for a dinner party from the pages of classic novels, her use of found objects and meaningful collectibles on her tables and place settings. To me, that’s what this book is about: wonderment, enthusiasm, curiosity and potential.

Martha’s critics always jibe that entertaining at home using Martha’s edicts is unattainable, unaffordable, impractical and not especially enjoyable. But they’re missing the point. I can’t count how many times Martha has said in her television specials or written in her books that her content is merely a guide, a presentation of ideas and possibilities meant to inspire the reader. In the introduction to the second edition of the book, printed in paperback in 1998 with an updated cover, she writes, “This book was planned as a guide – a reference, an inspiration, and a compilation of usable, delicious recipes for any size gathering.”

She has never assumed or expected that a reader will mimic every detail on every page, right down to the damask napkins and the pumpkin tureens - (but if they wanted to, they could!) She is presenting a concept of entertaining that requires effort and organization, yes, but also the specialness of individual expression and a certain level of thoughtfulness that any guest would appreciate.

The world presented in the pages of Entertaining is entirely Martha’s, and that is very much the point. If harnessing one’s individuality and personal expression in the art of entertaining is the lesson she wants to impart to the reader then, of course, Martha must demonstrate it herself. This is her way of entertaining.

In Martha’s case, the eggs used in the oeuffs-en-gelee were laid by her own hens. The apples in her homemade pies were grown in her orchard – an orchard she had planted herself years prior, after careful research about orchard plantation. The dishes on her tables are mismatched but perfectly curated – some expensive and rare, some more common, some inherited, some found at tag sales and flea markets. Martha took every lesson she had learned about the art of making a gathering of friends and family feel special (lessons she learned mostly through osmosis during her years as a caterer) and then documented them in this book so that others could take part in this dream.

In Entertaining, she made real the imagery she saw in her mind of crowded dessert buffets set upon layers of antique quilts draped over long oak tables. She executed the French-influenced menus she had developed as a caterer, narrowing and expanding them to include a few guests, a dozen - or several dozen. She found new spaces in her gardens and the rooms of her home to set up small dining tables, inspired by what was blooming that season, or how the view from a window in a particular room at a particular time of year seemed to be a little extra special. 

The grandeur and scale of the parties presented in the book is not meant to seem daunting, nor is it meant to be perfectly replicated by the host or hostess; the book is spectacle for the sake of inspiration, a warming fire to ignite one’s own spark to imagine beyond the ordinary – whatever that may look like to you.

The book will no doubt continue to inspire countless readers as they embark upon hosting their first gathering at home. Remember that the main lesson here is not about doing everything on a grand scale, it is about expressing yourself with imagination, thoughtfulness and individuality.