I just read an article by Simon Schama from his newly published book Scribble,Scribble,Scribble. The article, The Language of Food is well crafted beginning with his lingophobia (aversion to eating tongue) through the history of discussing what we eat, the demise of gastronomie for fooding and finally the eloquence of M.F.K. Fisher’s prose.
It’s a long article and on the computer it forces one to read the same sentence a few times to follow his logic but Simon’s many points are worth thinking about.
“The best writers embed their cookery-and their recipes-in remembered experience; part memoir, part re-enactment…(the recipes are)made to disappear inside the text of the essay.” A light bulb went off in my head. This is why the food memoir genre has taken off like gangbusters. We all have food memories that swirl around our conscious as we eat. The key to good food writing is to bring the reader along on your culinary trip.
Simon mentioned that Elizabeth David lit his culinary fire. I was drawn in by the old Gourmet’s with their recipes written in paragraph form. My imagination followed every word with the ingredients and measurements punctuating the story.
If you have time, follow the link and enjoy the article! There’s lots to ponder about and maybe post!
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/c692ccb0-9b61-11df-8239-00144feab49a,_i_email=y.html
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