gastronomy

Fisher recounts her life through her intimate association with food, growing up, travelling alone to meet her formidable uncle (knowing when to order consomé,) eating blue point oysters at a sorority banquet, falling in love with her first husband, living with him in 1930s Dijon at a boarding house where the landlady made ananas au kirsch, divorcing him, nursing another sick husband, being wooed while still married, travelling on cruise liners, watching the rise of the Nazis in Europe, and finally travelling to Mexico in her widowhood. Fisher reveals food as a civilizing force, revelling in its sensual pleasure while remaining starkly aware of a world going wrong. She writes real characters; it's journalism in a short story style, using that technique of fiction. With remarkably serene prose, delicate and sensuous, Fisher shows herself to be a singular woman who understands all too well the foibles of humanity and gracefully counteracts them with an almost pious devotion to the riches and possibilities of elegant cuisine.

no one could have turned the culinary world into literature. she shames these narrow consumer-oriented marketeers like martha stewart. this is an artist and craftswoman at her best.

like many of the other reviewers, i found that ms. fisher's account of some events exquisite while others were confusing. as a food lover myself, i really enjoyed her descriptions of meals in various countries. but as an autobiography, i found that i didn't necessarily know more about ms. fisher after reading the book. the essays jumped around different years, and i felt that some of the most important events in her life lacked the background information for the reader to truly understand the significance they had on ms. fisher's life. all in all, i *did* enjoy the book, however. it made for quick reading, especially since every essay was a story onto itself. it inspired me to read more of ms. fisher's essays in hopes of finding out more about her.