[A slight personal note: on Wednesday I wrote my 100th post for this blog! The 3-tier cake with which I celebrated was lovely, and the cascade of balloons falling from the ceiling over my desk was a nice touch.]
Do you like food? No, no, I mean do you really like food? Because if you are the type of person that enjoys cooking and culinary tradition so much that you even get a vicarious thrill reading about food, then we have the book for you: American Food Writing: an anthology with classic recipes edited by Molly O'Neill. O'Neill was the former food columnist for the New York Times and she has combed American history and literature to come up with over 100 essays and excerpts devoted to eating. Selections range from a description of making buffalo sausage in Meriwether Lewis' journal to instructions by Rex Stout (author of the Nero Wolfe mysteries) on how to make planked porterhouse steak. Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Ogden Nash, Gertrude Stein and Langston Hughes are all here in this book, as are dozens of other writers, chefs and politicians (Thomas Jefferson's personal recipe for ice cream is on page 5). When you think about it, it's not really surprising that so many people have recorded their thoughts and feelings about food. Eating is our first pleasure after we are born, holidays and celebrations always include a special food, and lack of appetite is always taken as a sign of illness or depression. The book is sprinkled with recipes, but it is the writing that takes center stage here. There is nothing as pleasurable as spending time with someone who shares your passions, and with O'Neill's book foodies can commune with an entire history of fellow enthusiasts.
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2 comments:
It is a wonderful collection. In fact, I found it so inspiring, I began cooking and blogging my way through all the historical recipes! And it's awoken a major "Vintage Cookbook Addiction" in me -- so while I highly recommend it, watch out! You'll get hooked.
I agree. I picked it up from the local libe out of whimsy, and was surprised to see some really excellent writing -- stuff that would appeal to anyone, not just foodies. I would never have guessed that some of the 'great names of American literature" could write so well about the best way to make an apple pie, or why French cooking is superior to American in many ways, or what it was like to taste the wine in the Italian parts of old San Francisco. An excellent and delightful book.
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