It’s the birthday of two authors known for writing about food, one of whom has become iconic in the fine dining/fine writing community, and the other of whom currently writes bestselling novels in the UK.
M.F.K. Fisher (1908-1992) was born in Albion, Michigan, the oldest of four children. When she was still very young, her family moved to Whittier, California, near Los Angeles, where her father had bought The Whittier News. She learned her way around the kitchen from the family cook and wrote and read voraciously growing up. In 1929, Fisher moved with her first husband to Dijon, France. This marriage ended in 1937, the same year her first book, Serve It Forth, appeared; her writing, like her cooking, was impassioned, edgy, sensual, and anything but squeamish. Consider the Oyster followed in 1941, and in How to Cook a Wolf (1942) she told Americans that when the wolf was at the door, one should “invite him in and have him for dinner.” Fisher wrote a total of 15 books, including a highly-acclaimed translation of Brillat-Savarin’s The Physiology of Taste that came out in 1949. She married and divorced two more times, raised two daughters, and continued to write through her struggle with Parkinson’s disease. In addition to her other books, Fisher consulted on The Cooking of Provencal France (1968) with Julia Child and Michael Field. Her work appeared in The New Yorker about a bazillion times. Fisher is credited with creating the food essay and continues to be regarded as one of the greatest food writers of our time.
It’s also the birthday of Joanne Harris (b. 1964), best known for novels such as Chocolat (1999) and Five Quarters of the Orange (2001). Harris was born in Barnsley, England, to a French mother and an English father, both of whom were teachers; Harris herself taught French to grammar school boys for 15 years before becoming a writer. Harris’ website includes a very amusing page called 101 Little-Known Facts…, which includes everything from her love of Korean horror films to her IQ. (Oh, I can’t resist: it’s 158.) She’s written over 15 books, including several cookbooks, and is still married to her first husband, whom she met at the age of 16. Harris lives in Yorkshire with her husband and daughter.
Savor something homemade on this tropical Tuesday and stay scrupulously honest to the data.
Though I’ve read some Harris, I don’t know that I’ve read anything by Fisher. Have you? Would you recommend anything? (It should come as no surprise that I love reading about food…)
I’ve read essays by Fisher but not an entire book. Maybe I’ll add that to my list… I know her An Alphabet for Gourmets is supposed to be extremely good. She’s really a superb writer. Let me know if/what you read by her!