Product Description

The 50th anniversary keepsake edition of M. F. K. Fisher’s food writing classic

This beautifully produced commemorative edition of M. F. K. Fisher’s The Art of Eating celebrates the 50th anniversary of its original publication. Fisher’s writing has delighted and inspired generations of lovers of good food and exquisite writing, and this outstanding compilation of her best work is as exciting and engaging today as it was half a century ago. Special features of the anniversary edition include an introductory tribute by Fisher’s leading biographer, Joan Reardon, and quotes from some of today’s top culinary names on the impact of Fisher’s writing. Printed on high-quality stock complemented by French flaps and a stunning new cover design, this volume is a must-have for Fisher fans and first-timers.

M. F. K. Fisher (1908—82) is revered as one of America’s best food writers. She was the author of more than a dozen books, and her personalized essays on the pleasures of cooking and eating made her famous. Her most popular books–Serve It Forth, Consider the Oyster, How to Cook a Wolf, The Gastronomical Me, and An Alphabet for Gourmets–were bound into one volume, The Art of Eating, in 1954.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #35513 in Books
• Published on: 2004-03-05
• Format: Special Edition
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 784 pages

Amazon.com Review
A collection of essays by one of America's best known food writers, that are often more autobiographical or historical than anecdotal musings on food preparation and consumption. The book includes culinary advice to World War II housewives plagued by food shortages, portraits of family members and friends (with all their idiosyncrasies) and notes on her studies at the University of Dijon, in France. Through each story she weaves her love of food and passion for cooking, and illustrates that our three basic needs as human beings--love, food and security--are so intermingled that it is difficult to think of one without the others. The book won the 1989 James Beard Cookbook Award.

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 financière to flapjacks, for no other reason than the beastlike satisfaction of his belly."

Customer Reviews

Thank heavens, "Art of Eating" is back in print
For some inexplicable reason, the brilliant writing of M.F.K.Fisher was out of print, or hard to obtain for a while. Her prose is possibly some of the best writing from the 20th Century, so the difficulty in getting her books was rather puzzling. If you read anyone who writes about cuisine, they always refer to M.F.K. Fisher as some kind of luminary. In "The Art of Eating", there is every opportunity to examine why her writing is held in such high esteem.

This book is a compilation of her most famous works "Consider the Oyster," "Serve It Forth," "How to Cook a Wolf," "The Gastronomical Me" and "An Alphabet for Gourmets." Each is quite different. "How to Cook a Wolf" is about cooking in times of want, in this case, World War II, but the book really becomes semi-autobiographical and talks about her young days in Dijon, where she was the wife of a student at the University.

If you haven't read M.F.K. Fisher, this is probably the best book to start with--it combines memoir with culinary musings; advice on scrambled eggs with her own ideas about health and nutrition. If you then can't get enough of Fisher, I recommend, "The Measure of Her Powers" which is much more autobiographical and utterly fascinating.

I actually read Fisher more for her memoirs. Her fascination with food and cooking is to me about life and art,--the French view of food not as something merely to fill the belly, but as an art form and a craft.

one of the favorite books of a self confessed book addict
Once upon a time I worked for a chef who absolutely adored MFK Fisher (this was one of her only redeeming qualities) and although I love food and wine, I had never heard of her before, but I love to read and I figured that I would pick up a few of her books and this one (actually a compilation of 5 of her books)is the first that I read, and it just changed my life, it is such a beautiful book that describes food and love and life so artfully you cannot help but feeling happy when you read it. She speaks a lot of France, and about her life experiences mingled with all sorts of facts and trivia and research about food. It is lovingly written. For those of you who love books about food and the art of food, this is for you. For those of you who think that you don't like books about food, this is also for you. Check it out.

Everyone should take the time to savor this book's delights.
Looking for some food for thought? How about some thoughts on food? M.F.K. Fisher's compendium of essays in the "Art of Eating" is sure to keep you entertained for months, and provide you with party tidbits for even longer.

I read this book over the course of three months, an essay or two at a time. It's not just about food, but about the people who love to eat good food, to make it, to grow it, to harvest it, to travel in search of it. It's about some wonderful places in the world, some now long gone, or spoiled, and some still well worth a visit.

You'll find that you remember some of M.F.K. Fisher's stories long after you've put the book down. You'll tell these stories to others and win smiles and laughter. You'll haul the book out and read aloud from it. Your friends will ask to borrow your copy.

You will tell them to get their own.