Creating, collecting, and sharing thoughts and ideas. And learning along the way.
…especially when you have crunchy mung sprouts in the seasoning.
American Food Writing: An Anthology With Classic Recipes (paperback)
“A portrait of a nation as seen through the prism of food.”
— Los Angeles Times“This rich, delectable treat is a must-have for American foodies.”
— Publishers Weekly
Overview | Table of Contents
Read Thomas Jefferson’s recipe for ice cream (PDF, 800 KB)
In this paperback edition of a best-selling anthology, celebrated food writer Molly O’Neill gathers the very best from over 250 years of American culinary history. This literary feast includes classic accounts of iconic American foods: Henry David Thoreau on the delights of watermelon; Herman Melville, with a mouth-watering chapter on clam chowder; H. L. Mencken on the hot dog; M.F.K. Fisher in praise of the oyster; Ralph Ellison on the irresistible appeal of baked yam; William Styron on Southern fried chicken. American writers abroad, like A. J. Liebling, Waverly Root, and Craig Claiborne, describe the revelations they found in foreign restaurants; travellers to America, including the legendary French gourmet J. A. Brillat-Savarin, discover such native delicacies as turkey, Virginia barbecue, and pumpkin pie. Great chefs and noted critics discuss their culinary philosophies and offer advice on the finer points of technique; home cooks recount disasters and triumphs. A host of eminent American writers, from Nathaniel Hawthorne, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Walt Whitman to Thomas Wolfe, Willa Cather, and Langston Hughes, add their distinctive viewpoints to the mix.
American Food Writing celebrates the astonishing variety of American foodways, with accounts from almost every corner of the country and a host of ethnic traditions: Dutch, Cuban, French, Italian, Jewish, Chinese, Irish, Indian, Scandinavian, Native American, African, English, Japanese, and Mexican. A surprising range of subjects and perspectives emerge, as writers address such topics as fast food, hunger, dieting, and the relationship between food and sex. James Villas offers a behind-the-scenes look at gourmet dining through a waiter’s eyes; Anthony Bourdain recalls his days at the Culinary Institute of America; Julia Child remembers the humble beginnings of her much-loved television series; Nora Ephron chronicles internecine warfare among members of the “food establishment;” Michael Pollan explores what the label “organic” really means.
Throughout the anthology are more than 50 classic recipes, selected after extensive research from cookbooks both vintage and modern, and certain to instruct, delight, and inspire home chefs.
Molly O’Neill, editor, was food columnist for The New York Times for a decade and host of the PBS series Great Food. Her work has appeared in many national magazines, and she is the author of three cookbooks, including the award-winning New York Cookbook. Her most recent book is Mostly True: A Memoir of Family, Food, and Baseball.
Also available in a hardcover edition.
Listen to an interview with Molly O’Neill on NPR’s “Here and Now.”
Copyright 1995–2011 Literary Classics of the United States, Inc.
When that which appears insurmountable slowly appears not just surmountable but positively conquerable, there is a great feeling of joy, followed quickly by amazement. What I am referencing here, of course, is my personal accomplishment in finishing Victor Hugo’s tome of a book, Les Miserables.
Set in the mid-nineteenth century in the sprawl of Paris and its surrounding villages, the basic plot– for the uninitiated– is that of a man called Jean Valjean. Valjean had lived with his sister and her family in extreme poverty in France after the French Revolution. In one act of desperation, he breaks a window to steal a loaf of bread. He is put away in prison and released only 19 years later. But doing his time in prison does not take away the stigma of having been a convict once, and the treatment that he receives is testament to the small-mindedness of good folks everywhere. Eventually, it is an act of grace and forgiveness by a bishop that is the most transforming event in Valjean’s life. Long story short: Valjean turns his life around, and it would seem his life was set on a new course of usefulness and happiness, only, there’s a dark cloud on this silver lining! Javert, a former prison guard recognizes Valjean. Intersecting Valjean’s story is that of Fantine, a young, naive girl who has been disabused of every good thing in life, including the one thing she prizes above all: Cosette, her young daughter whom she has had out of wedlock. Valjean becomes Fantine’s benfactor and eventually Cosette’s guardian, and the rest of the book details the pursuit of Valjean by Javert, and of Cosette turning into a young woman.
That is the basic story, but there are so many more layers, subplots, and characters in Les Miserables. There are discussions of poverty, politics, French history. One of the major themes is the righteousness of the law, as represented by Javert, versus the righteousness of grace, represented by Valjean. One can’t help but draw parallels to the Christian themes of redemption, forgiveness, sacrifice, and selflessness that come through in the characters of Valjean.
And for all of Hugo’s wordiness, there are moments of clever, succinct, descriptive phrasing such as these:
“For dowry, she had gold and pearls; but the gold was on her head and the pearls were in her mouth.”
“A torn conscience leads to an unraveled life.”
“There is a way of falling into error while on the road of truth. He had a sort of willful implicit faith that swallowed everything whole.”
“Skepticism, that dry rot of the intellect.”
“He suffered the strange pangs of a conscience suddenly operated on for a cataract.”
“This man…was…still bleeding from the lacerations of his destiny.”
This is a tome for the ages– timeless in its themes, and rich in insight of the world and France, in particular, at that time. It is a story rich for its language, and it is a story that educates and illuminates, all at once.
Isn’t that a great contrast of the blue car against that red burning-bush hedge?
