Category Archives: Food Writing

From How to Cook a Wolf by M.F.K. Fisher Kneading bread means pressing it rhythmically with the heel and fingers of each hand, in a gentle rocking movement, turning the dough over on itself with each push, folding it lightly, … Continue reading →

Adam Gopnik remarks after observing a meal with cooks talking together and eating and arguing … Searching for an occult connection between cooking and writing, I had missed the most obvious one. They are both dependencies of conversation. What unites … Continue reading →

Peter Fryer in Secrets of the British Museum provides an excerpt from Teleny which reads like a sumptuous meal described by Brillat-Savarin. Almost a set piece. Teleny’s kisses up and down his friend’s back resemble ‘a rain of rose-leaves falling … Continue reading →

“Spice” by A. Cinqué Hicks in Shade: An Anthology of Fiction by Gay Men of African Descent begins with a listing of the ingredients need to make gumbo. To make gumbo, you need rice. Mama preferred brown rice. Then you … Continue reading →

Any Vanderbilt’s Complete Cookbook has a recipe for “Baked Stuffed Onions” in which the tops of cooked onions are sliced off and the centres scooped out. The scooped-out onions are sauted and spooned over the stuffed onions. This reminds me … Continue reading →

I have encountered this advice about flatulence avoidance in a number of places. Kim Williams’s is a simple and prosaic description of how to treat the cooking of beans. It is culled from the introduction to the recipe for “Savory … Continue reading →

Kim Williams in the eponymous cookbook and commentary has a recipe for “Hi Pro Chili” which, notwithstanding the claim of it being an April Fool’s recipe, gives a convincing method for preparing earthworms for a high protein addition. Purged with … Continue reading →