Needs more stars!
Rating:
5 / 5
I found this book in a stack of books on sale outside of a Harvard Square book shop, selling for $1.00 in hardcover when I was a poor student. I think that I bought it mainly because it was a thick fat book and the paper quality was was so good. A few hours later I opened it to peruse while sitting in Hamburger Cottage and have never looked at food, human appetites, memories, and other hungers the same. Fisher is now a cult figure but, back then, was barely still in print. Just try reading only a few pages of her writing. If you're a poor student, read the chapter about how to keep the wolf from the door, written during the Great Depression in America people had to work hard to keep their spirits up and did it...even in style.
And Now for Something That's a Complete Masterpiece
Rating:
5 / 5
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.
Such a tasty book!
Rating:
5 / 5
"Raspberries Romanoff:" Chill the fresh raspberries, and then whip some cream with sugar and kirsch. Stir with the raspberries and chill again. Serve it forth in tall crystal flutes.Now, isn't that easy? Isn't that tasty, just reading about it? And, most important, while reading this recipe you instinctively realize that the freshness of the raspberries and the cream are of critical importance. There are many other joys in this compendium of M. F. K. Fisher's best five books. Another one which rests in my memory is "The Best Peas I Have Ever Eaten" -- literally an ode of love to fresh green peas, plucked from the garden, shucked on the spot, and instantly cooked. But it is also an ode of love to her family and friends who helped her make this feast. In short, this is a book which enhances life, which makes life more worth living, and which should be at least looked at by anyone who loves good writing and good information about life. Highest possible recommendation!
|