PastryWiz The Art of Eating

 

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The Art of Eating
by: M. F. K. Fisher

List Price: $19.95
Price*$6.50
You Save: $13.45 (67%)
as of 02/09/2010 15:39 EDT

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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 641.013
EAN: 9780020322207
ISBN: 0020322208
Label: John Wiley & Sons
Languages: EnglishOriginal LanguageEnglishUnknownEnglishPublished
Manufacturer: John Wiley & Sons
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 768
Publication Date: May 09, 1990
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Studio: John Wiley & Sons

Editorial Review:

Product Description:
The Art of Eating "…only wise men know the art of eating." —Brillat-Savarin "There is a communion of more than bodies when bread is broken and wine is drunk. And that is my answer when people ask me, Why do you write about hunger, and not wars or love?" So M. F. K. Fisher begins The Gastronomical Me, one of the five memorable volumes collected together here in The Art of Eating. The five books cover an eclectic array of thoughts, memories, and recipes, from World War I vignettes of frugality at the table to a consideration of the social status of vegetables. Her recipes range from those for all manner of oysters, dressed and undressed, to Cold Buttermilk Soup, and are accompanied by the remarks and observations that provoked W. H. Auden to say, "I do not know of anyone in the United States today who writes better prose." "M. F. K. Fisher evokes the magic that shimmers just beneath the surface of the most commonplace, everyday experiences in prose you can wrap around your soul." —Richard Sax, Chocolatier "M. F. K. Fisher is one of the best food writers. She makes you laugh, tells you stories, intrigues your mind, gives you an appetite, takes you on her travels. She is witty, wise, and unpretentious." —Jane Grigson "One of the world's finest food writers and, in the eyes of many, the grand dame of gastronomy…M. F. K. Fisher has remained our guiding light, the source of infinite gastronomic and philosophic wisdom, the model of what a truly refined food writer should strive for." —James Villas, Bon Appétit

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.


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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:  out of 5 stars

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - The Art of Eating - An excellent Compendium
This big fat juicy book contains about 5 of her smaller books and covers everything from descriptions of fabulous meals eaten in tiny restaurants in the Swiss Alps to descriptions of other patrons, to how to actually cook food, should you have cream in your coffee after dinner? (no) to her experiences of cooking and finding enough to eat during the war. She was a wonderful writer and after one of her stories, you will feel replete, as if you had just joined her in a meal.



Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - Style and Substance: Like a Good Meal
No other writer combines a knowledge of cuisine, history, and social place with such lyricism and panache. If you want some obscure recipe in its unadulterated, early 20th century form, it is here. If you want an account of life under the hardships of war, described through the gastronomic difficulties of rationing and scarcity, look no further. But if you want all that and a style that is as beautiful in its choice of word and phrase as it is in its theme and moral, then you have arrived at the caviar of culinary insight. Fisher is so much more than a food writer and it is often easy to forget that you are reading the work of a author who is perhaps best known as merely the translator of Brillat-Savarin's masterwork, "The Physiology of Taste".

There a is haunting, autobiographical element to this work. The Art of Eating is actually a collection of Fisher's best pieces and so the anthology is divided into the books and arranged chronologically. Yes, there are recipes but I enjoy the personal stories best. Recollections of a meal in Lyon with a friend and a drunken waiter are so much more than embellishments of past adventure. They are windows to a world which has vanished; a time when food meant so much more to culture than a quirky jingle about cheeseburgers. Even if you are not a self-professed foodie this is a fantastic read and I recommend it to anyone who finds beauty and romance in a well-written story.



Rating: 3 out of 5 stars - A mid-century perspective on food
I thought this book was interesting. Our book group also read "The Omnivore's Dilemina". She brings a post WWII perspective to food.
The tomato soup cake was OK.

We had our meeting and each made something from the book. The author had an interesting life and has written many other books so it was a good discussion.



Rating: 4 out of 5 stars - The Art of WRITING ABOUT EATING
This is an excellent volume and great value for money as it comprises several of Fisher's best-known texts.

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The Art of Eating
List Price: $19.95
Price*$6.50
You Save: $13.45 (67%)
as of 02/09/2010 15:39 EDT

 

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Product prices and availability updated on 02/09/2010 15:39 EDT.