Category Archives: Food Writing

And the Steam Also Rises

Posted on February 26, 2013 by Francois Lachance

Elizabeth David French Country Cooking Escalopes de Veau en Papillotes The recipe ends with a paean to these parcels. The nicest way to serve them, if your guests don’t mind getting their fingers messy, is piled up in the dish … Continue reading →

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Food in Time

Posted on February 9, 2013 by Francois Lachance

Rooting food in temporality. This is not a manual of cookery but a book about enjoying food. Few of the recipes in it will contribute much to the repertoire of those who like to produced dinner for six in thirty … Continue reading →

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More Than Fruit Storage

Posted on February 5, 2013 by Francois Lachance

Charles Olson comparing and contrasting the Maya and Americans in his essay “Human Universe” And when a people are so disposed, it should come as no surprise that, long before any of these accomplishments, the same people did an improvement … Continue reading →

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Food in Lear

Posted on January 8, 2013 by Francois Lachance

Most of his limericks that feature food are devoted to the demise of the character due to overeating or feature curious food choices such as spiders. This limerick stands out for me because not only of its edible element but … Continue reading →

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The Italian Side

Posted on January 4, 2013 by Francois Lachance

A note on translation by Maureen B. Fant. The first time I wrote Italian recipes for an American publisher, I was shocked to realize how far over to the Italian side I’d slid in my thirty years in Italy. I … Continue reading →

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Before Commodities

Posted on November 5, 2012 by Francois Lachance

Echoes of an economy of the gift… When I was six, my grandmother also took me with her to the newly harvested rice fields to take part in the open-air feast that fulfilled so many functions, practical and symbolic. It … Continue reading →

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Taking Stock of Making Stock

Posted on October 28, 2012 by Francois Lachance

Mijoter: Faire cuire ou bouillir lentement. Recipe I’m the one working the kitchen, making stock from chicken wing tips I’d saved in the freezer, some bouillon cubes, the picked-over carcass of last Sunday’s dinner. A gallon of spring water […] … Continue reading →

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Habit & Taste

Posted on October 17, 2012 by Francois Lachance

I like how these opening words draw an analogy between cooking and writing and how that analogy is cemented by the recourse to habit. Cooking is not about just joining the dots, following one recipe slavishly and then moving on … Continue reading →

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Culinary Layering

Posted on September 24, 2012 by Francois Lachance

The eight steps in how Anna Jones puts a recipe together: Hero Ingredient How Shall I Cook It? Supporting Role? Add an Accent Add a Flavour Add a Herb Add Some Crunch Season and Finish from a modern way to … Continue reading →

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Way to Eat – Way to Live

Posted on September 22, 2012 by Francois Lachance

Anna Jones in the introduction to a modern way to eat [never capitalized throughout] makes a series of claims. I’d like to make a few promises about the food in this book: It is indulgent and delicious It will make … Continue reading →

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