gastronomy

Once upon a time I worked for a chef who absolutely adored MFK Fisher (this was one of her only redeeming qualities) and although I love food and wine, I had never heard of her before, but I love to read and I figured that I would pick up a few of her books and this one (actually a compilation of 5 of her books)is the first that I read, and it just changed my life, it is such a beautiful book that describes food and love and life so artfully you cannot help but feeling happy when you read it. She speaks a lot of France, and about her life experiences mingled with all sorts of facts and trivia and research about food. It is lovingly written. For those of you who love books about food and the art of food, this is for you. For those of you who think that you don't like books about food, this is also for you. Check it out.

For some inexplicable reason, the brilliant writing of M.F.K.Fisher was out of print, or hard to obtain for a while. Her prose is possibly some of the best writing from the 20th Century, so the difficulty in getting her books was rather puzzling. If you read anyone who writes about cuisine, they always refer to M.F.K. Fisher as some kind of luminary. In "The Art of Eating", there is every opportunity to examine why her writing is held in such high esteem.

This book is a compilation of her most famous works "Consider the Oyster," "Serve It Forth," "How to Cook a Wolf," "The Gastronomical Me" and "An Alphabet for Gourmets." Each is quite different. "How to Cook a Wolf" is about cooking in times of want, in this case, World War II, but the book really becomes semi-autobiographical and talks about her young days in Dijon, where she was the wife of a student at the University.

If you haven't read M.F.K. Fisher, this is probably the best book to start with--it combines memoir with culinary musings; advice on scrambled eggs with her own ideas about health and nutrition. If you then can't get enough of Fisher, I recommend, "The Measure of Her Powers" which is much more autobiographical and utterly fascinating.

I actually read Fisher more for her memoirs. Her fascination with food and cooking is to me about life and art,--the French view of food not as something merely to fill the belly, but as an art form and a craft.

In my imagination, in Fisher's mind, everyone from Antoine Careme to Thomas Keller lived together in a big old dilapidated farmhouse in the French countryside. They are all sitting in the shade one buttery-hued afternoon, talking about "Why did the chicken cross the road?":

Antoine Careme: It was trussed onto the back of a rabbit. I call it, "Chicken a la Peugeot".
Vatel: Leave it there and I'll build a feast scene around it.
Jean Brillat-Savarin: It was trying to escape the lawyer that was crossing the road to sue it.
Fanny Farmer: It''s a one-trick chicken, all it can do is cross the road.
August Escoffier: (After having too much pastis): Let's put the dead clucker in a bucket of horseradish sauce and make Double-Toilet Chicken for the Emperor.
Julia Child: If it's being carried across the road on a serving platter and drops onto the road, simply pick it up, brush it off lightly and serve.
Alice Waters: It was free-ranging, got a little disoriented from the aromatherapy it had received earlier, and entered an erroneous zone.
Thomas Keller: I see Sun-dried Chicken Anus with Organic Guacamole Droppings.

Forgive me if this is some kind of Jesus, Moses, and Elvis scenario gone wrong, but Hail Mary (Fisher), this book is a near-religion experience for gastroholics. The culinary writing stylings of M.F.K.Fisher are art, the food memory landscape is art, she could even make a description of a rubber chicken read like 20" of curated treasure.

The Art of Eating is the also the Art of Reading. Not a recipe compendium, but a food enjoyment memoire. If you read slowly, deliciously-enough, she invites you to participate by asking yourself, " What was MY best memory of food from childhood", "What was the best dinner invitation I was present at", "What would BE the best dinner invitation I could ever be present at" (mine might involve somebody who was going to ask me about the Mayan).

Enjoy this book slowly, it's too beautiful to just wolf down.