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Art of Eating: 50th Anniversary Edition Paperback – Illustrated, 20 February 2004
by REARDON JOAN AND FISHER M.F.K. (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 368 ratings
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Ruth Reichl - 'Mary Frances [Fisher] has the extraordinary ability to make the ordinary seem rich and wonderful. Her dignity comes from her absolute insistence on appreciating life as it comes to her'. Julia Child - 'How wonderful to have here in my hands the essence of M.F.K. Fisher, whose wit and fulsome opinions on food and those who produce it, comment upon it, and consume it are as apt today as they were several decades ago, when she composed them. Why did she choose food and hunger she was asked, and she replied, 'When I write about hunger, I am really writing about love and the hunger for it, and warmth, and the love of it ...and then the warmth and richness and fine reality of hunger satisfied. This is the stuff we need to hear, and to hear again and again'. Alcie Waters - 'This comprehensive volume should be required reading for every cook. It defines in a sensual and beautiful way the vital relationship between food and culture'. AUTHORS: Culinary historian, cookbook author, and biographer JOAN REARDON is the author of M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child, and Alice Waters: Celebrating the Pleasures of the Table, M.F.K. Fisher Among the Pots and Pans, Poet of the Appetites: The Lives and Loves of M.F.K. Fisher, and Oysters: a Culinary Celebration. Reardon, who has a PhD in English literature, won an IACP Award for culinary writing, publishes and edits a quarterly newsletter for Les Dames d'Escoffier Chicago, and serves on the advisory board of Gastronomica magazine.
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Review
This 50th anniversary paperback reprint contains what Julia Child referred to as "the essence of M.F.K. Fisher." Fisher (1908-1992) was one of this country's earliest food writers; her eloquent yet unostentatious prose has charmed generations. The 784-page collection brings together five works originally published under separate titles: "Serve it Forth," "Consider the Oyster," "How to Cook a Wolf," "The Gastronomical Me" and "An Alphabet for Gourmets." There are also recipes scattered throughout. (Washington Post, April 28, 2004) --
From the Inside Flap
More than 50 years after M. F. K. Fisher logged her musings an d memories on food, love, and life, her nuanced stories still entertain and enlighten. If you haven't yet read Fisher's work, you will thoroughly enjoy discovering its variety, richness, and honesty. If it has been a while since you last delved into her writing, you will be captivated once again. Here are a few passages:
SERVE IT FORTH
""The Standing and the Waiting""
"We talked, and well, and all the dinner was most excellent, and the wine was like music on our tongues. Time was forgotten. . . . We watched as in a blissful dream the small fat hands moving like magic among bottles and small bowls and spoons and plates, stirring, pouring, turning the pan over the flame just so, just so, with the face bent keen and intent above."
CONSIDER THE OYSTER
""The Well-Dressed Oyster""
"There are three kinds of oyster-eaters: those loose-minded sports who will eat anything, hot, cold, thin, thick, dead or alive, as long as it is oyster; those who will eat them raw and only raw; and those who with equal severity will eat them cooked and no way other. . . . The first group may perhaps have the most fun, although there is a white fire about the others' bigotry that can never warm the broad-minded."
HOW TO COOK A WOLF
""How to Boil Water""
"Probably the most satisfying soup in the world for people who are hungry, as well as for those who are tired or worried or cross or in debt or in a moderate amount of pain or in love or in robust health or in any kind of business huggermuggery, is minestrone. . . . It is a thick unsophisticated soup, heart-warming and soul-staying, full of aromatic vegetables and well bound at the last with good cheese."
THE GASTRONOMICAL ME
""The Measure of My Powers" (1919-1927)"
"The first thing I cooked was pure poison. I made it for Mother, after my little brother David was born, and within twenty minutes of the first swallow she was covered with great itching red welts. . . . The pudding was safe enough: a little round white shuddering milky thing I had made that morning. . . . I ran into the back yard and picked ten soft ripe blackberries. I blew off the alley-dust, and placed them gently in a perfect circle around the little pudding. Its cool perfection leaped into sudden prettiness. . . . Mother smiled at my shocked anxious confusion, and said, 'Don't worry, sweet . . . it was the loveliest pudding I have ever seen.' I agreed with her in spite of the despair."
AN ALPHABET FOR GOURMETS
""G Is for Gluttony""
"I cannot believe that there exists a single coherent human being who will not confess, at least to himself, that once or twice he has stuffed himself to the bursting point, on anything from quail financiere to flapjacks, for no other reason than the beastlike satisfaction of his belly."
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Product details
ASIN : 0764542613
Publisher : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/Wiley; 50th Anniversary ed. edition (20 February 2004)
Language : English
Paperback : 784 pages
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Moki
5.0 out of 5 stars Great stories book is heavyReviewed in Canada on 30 December 2023
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Great book but it’s ginormous ( purchased three paperbacks ) hard to read holding in bed it’s heavy and thick . I gave it to my friends as gifts and they love the book despite how hard they are to hold
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lhamo55
5.0 out of 5 stars On Kindle at Last!Reviewed in the United States on 24 May 2014
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This was one of the books I looked for a few years ago after buying my first Kindle. Disappointment set in because as much as I enjoyed the paperback, it was too heavy to carry around all the time to read while waiting for prescriptions, on the train, etc. This a book that's perfect for either a relaxed read at home and/or as that friend who accompanies and keeps you entertained whenever the accomplishment of tasks away from work or home involves waiting. Here is an author who wrote the way she cooked - with a reverence that requires artistryj and an appreciation for both the food and those who will enjoy it. The listing and reviews found here provide details on the books included in this collection so no need to repeat what others have done.
Although Ms. Fisher parses details (a bit provocative for her time) of her private life (her biographies fill in the blanks), there's more than enough included to snag those readers who would be interested in how people responded to war and financial downturns in the first half of the 20th century versus our actions and attitudes today. This isn't a collection of cookbooks but it is a collection of books written about deriving some enjoyment of food and eating during a time when many ordinary people viewed eating a solely utilitarian action and aside from an occasional festive meal, one that required little attention beyond avoiding food poisoning. Each book has its own distinct flavor and character. One of my favorites is a vignette describing the solitary pleasure of preparing and eating a tangerine. I still remember my delight reading that someone else loved the results of the same method I'd used since childhood.
There're quite a few mentions of food, manners and technology that date the books but this, for me, is one of the reasons I enjoy reading and re-reading Mrs. Fisher's work. This is like listening to an elder who has lived such a full life we'll keep begging for more stories even after there are no more left to hear.
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Bluejun
5.0 out of 5 stars No one writes like MFK FisherReviewed in the United Kingdom on 6 May 2014
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Memoirs mixed with recipes from France during and just after the war, this is a book that should be by serious reader's bed to dip into and read as needed. There's more delicious writing in this book than in almost any other I own, not a dull word or story or page. Joyous.
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twincities
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book, nice editionReviewed in the United States on 1 April 2024
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We give this book often as a gift. This edition is well suited for giving.
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Maria Duncan
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful book!Reviewed in Canada on 14 July 2022
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Excellent writing! Loved her narrative!
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Rosminah
42 reviews3 followers
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March 31, 2008
This is my all time favorite book, I cannot live without it. I keep a copy at my bedside and take another copy travelling with me. I reread it constantly and reference it in conversation.
It is about life and food. How does that not relate to every single person in the world.
I first read this collection after returning from living several months in Borneo, where I finally built up the motivation to change my career path and continue my schooling overseas in England. Back home, I found the book on my mother's bookshelves and set about reading it, and it only furthered my determination to do what I needed to do abroad.
Five years later, having travelled to Morocco, Spain, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, back to Borneo, all in the name of my studies, and with my degree in hand, I kept this book with me. It educated me in recognizing the soul of food. I've read a few other MFK Fisher books, but none have been as usual as the art of eating.
Whenever I see used copies, I snap them up, and give away to friends.
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Spoon
27 reviews1 follower
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June 3, 2007
even if you're not a foodie, this is a really wonderfull book. no one writes about food like MFK Fisher and no one writes about food better than MFK Fisher. it brings tears to my eyes. i mean, fuck Anthony Bourdin and Kitchen Confidential (even though i enjoyed it) because MFK was writing about offal and wolves long before Anthony Bourdin decided to start wearing Dead Boys tee shirts and taping television shows where he tries absinthe.
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Lorna
857 reviews652 followers
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January 3, 2023
This was the 50th Anniversary Edition of The Art of Eating by M.F.K. Fisher and published in 2004. This beautiful and rich book has been on my coffee table for a few years, as I have enjoyed reading this as the mood struck me. This edition is a compliation of her works that includes five of Ms. Fisher's previous books: Serve It Forth; Consider the Oyster; How to Cook a Wolf; The Gastronomical Me; and An Alphabet for Gourmets. Some of these books have been reviewed, some not.
In the Foreward by Joan Reardon, she states that an introduction is needed because in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the publication The Art of Eating mandates putting this seminal work into the context of twenty-first century gastronomy. Ms. Reardon notes that it has become a benchmark in all that is original and memorable in America's culinary writing during the first half of the twentieth century with her fresh vision. While studying in Dijon in the early 1930s, M.F.K. Francis was exposed to French wines and food and steeped in the rich tradition of Continental gastronomical writing. That coupled with her rich tradition of fresh and seasonal ingredients nurtured in California mentored by variously trained cooks in her family's kitchen as well as her fascination with the language and lore of culinary history. This anthology of essays is a gorgeous book for anyone who has an interest in the culinary arts and all that it has come to mean to each of us. This beautiful volume will remain on my coffee table where I have access whenever the mood dictates.
cookbooks essays-short-stories-novellas foodies
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Carrie
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June 21, 2008
MFK Fisher is just so great - I'm humbled by the rightness of her writing and it sounds utterly corny to say that this is a book about love, life, and dignity. There is so much here - I read the Roman and Edwardian shopping lists of "Serve it Forth" to Jeff on our last road trip and we laughed like crazy, followed by her tips on how to keep your cat and dog fed when the chips are down. The quiet, powerful protest of the center book, "How to Cook a Wolf", was so touching to me - how to remain human in the face of an increasingly inhuman world. I'm just finishing "The Gastronomical Me" and it's both heartbreaking and fierce - a hard look at what we do for love that travels from her days as an innocent newlywed in Dijon to the impending war and exile from her beautiful Swiss home. Just marvelous. I so wish this fabulous dame was a friend of mine; she is the most bright, audacious, self-aware, funny dinner guest one could hope to have.
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Tracy
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July 30, 2008
I found this book to be 90% insufferable, 10% wonderful and unlike anything else I've ever read. This book is kind of old, so a lot of the insufferable-ness is just how old fashioned the writing style is. But a lot of the author's attitudes were also pretty obnoxious - her description of nuoc mam was downright racist. While I'm sure her palette is a million times more sophisticated than mine, there are some things that she doesn't appreciate which are perfectly delicious. This book is a compilation of several books that were originally published separately. I recommend just reading "How to Cook a Wolf."
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Sarah
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January 4, 2019
Finished Serve It Forth and putting aside for now. Fisher's writing is best when she's personal, and even the tactile squalor of a kitchen is sexy in her hands.
Favorite passage:
There are only three things I need, to make my kitchen a pleasant one as long as it is clean.
First, I need space enough to get a good simple meal for six people. More of either would be wasteful as well as dangerously dull.
Then, I need a window or two, for clear air and a sight of things growing.
Most of all, I need to be let alone. I need peace.
From there--from there, on the sill of my wide window, the plan is yours.
bio-memoir essays food
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Zack
7 reviews
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October 14, 2009
This book is comprised of essays largely un-connected to each other. This allows the book to spend a year on a table near where you often sit, so that every week or so you can pick it up and follow Ms. Fisher to France, or California, or out to sea. Ostensibly, she writes about food. But she does so in such a way that you learn what she's been learning--by sharing in her series of insights into herself, and relationships then humanity at large.
Also, this book will light a fire under your relationship with your kitchen. I didn't even know that my concern for a frying pan or my interest in peeling an orange had frozen. This book melted the ice away.
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Carol
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April 6, 2016
After finishing the book, I have to say that the reason for the middling rating is...it's me, MFK, not you.
While nearing the end of "Z is for" , it hit me like a ton of bricks - I finally understood that I am not the intended reader. I am not a foodie. I eat to live, not live to eat. Sure, I enjoy food, but not to the extent that I need to to 'get' this book - I don't have the interest/passion. Why didn't it occur to me earlier? If I was obsessed, this may have been a bible for me, but I'm not.
Below is my running notes/reviews of the books as I finished them:
Serve it Forth **:
What a pompous ass. I'll trudge on through the next book, but I have better things to do with my time. We shall see.
Update - I did enjoy her bit about the dried tangerine, and the chapter "On Dining Alone" but still have trouble with her snarky comments. Even when she seems to be trying to be nice, there is often something negative in there. Is this what people mean when they say she's witty? Plus I would like to see her research cited.
Consider the Oyster ***:
Although I did skim through some the recipes (not the cracker one though I have been meaning to make crackers, and perhaps this winter I will), I enjoyed her writing and her personality much better in this one.
How to Cook a Wolf ***
When you're broke, how do you eat well. I understand needing a little extra something when one is struggling, but she seemed to want folks to drink wine with nearly every meal. Was wine really cheap back then? Some of the recipes were delightful.
The Gastronomical Me***
I'm not sure I can get through this. Some of these little chapters are quaint, some are just awful.
Okay, done. Some parts were quite lovely. But the hopping around was jarring. I had to read elsewhere about her life at that time, which gave me a little insight, and sympathy. That said, she sure used the word "thin" and the line "and such" a lot. And again, she sure did drink a bunch.
An Alphabet for Gourmets***
Quite enjoyed this part, esp. Z. But did she really give her 5 year old daughter whiskey?
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Renee
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July 24, 2014
Five books is a lot of pages in which to deal with her tone. She has a lot to say, but she's overly fond of her two Frenchmen (Brillat-Savarin & Escoffier) and substantially more impressed with herself than is seemly. Also, based on her recipes, it would seem that she likes food to be approximately 20% butter at all times.
I know that she speaks to her moment, and I am fine with the occasionally anachronistic nature of her prose (such as the love affair with butter and the way she unproblematically embraces heavy boozing). However, the class snobbery of it was grating. For all the praising of "good peasant food" and "real bread" (meaning, brown loaves), these are essentially moments of culinary slumming. She may like the food of working people, especially as a lark, but it certainly doesn't make her one of the peasants.
The best parts were the years between wars and into WW2, as her travels and life in Switzerland and France give so much indirect insight into how non-political and non-military people were coping with the tensions bubbling so near the surface. The tales of her crossing on Italian and German ships in the '30s are fascinating.
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