Gabrielle Hamilton Character Analysis

“Ms. Hamilton can be charming, tempestuous, persnickety, vulgar, poetic, provocative, and mothering, sometimes all in the course of a single flurry of sentences” (Gordinier). Many will inquire, how is it possible for one person to express so many emotions in a brief moment? Due to Hamilton’s upbringing and lifestyle transformation, she has encountered contrasting walks of life; she has performed the duties of a troublesome teen, a ruthless chef, a nurturing mother, an expressive writer, and so much more. As a child living along the Delaware River in New Hope, Pennsylvania, Hamilton’s parents divorced when she was eleven years old and abandoned her. This forced her to grow up quickly and learn how to live an independent life. In order to survive, Hamilton cooked with any ingredients she could find and landed a job washing dishes in a restaurant. Eventually, she went to college to become a writer, but returned to the kitchen shortly after graduating. Once she met her husband, she instantly fell in love with his big, Italian family—something she longed for during the entirety of her childhood. Nowadays, she manages and cooks in her family-styled, New York City restaurant: Prune (Gordinier; Hamilton; Kakutani). Gabrielle Hamilton has become one of the most influential and well-known chefs in the world, because she displays a welcoming, homelike environment in her restaurant and uses simple cooking techniques. Gabrielle Hamilton’s lack of structure and family environment during