M.F.K. Fisher (1908-1992) was an American writer, who dealt with the subject of cooking and food in more than twenty books, a pioneer in the way of approaching it, far from traditional stereotypes or recipe books. What is considered the most representative of her production is now appearing in Catalan, El meu jo gastronòmic, a kind of autobiography, essay and gastronomic memory marked by cosmopolitanism and frequent travel during the years of the two world wars.
Born in Michigan, she moved with her family to California and at the age of twenty she settled in Dijon with her first husband. In the successive chapters of this volume we learn about the trajectory of an independent, groundbreaking woman, who recounts vital episodes -until 1941 when she landed in Mexico, after the death of her second partner- in a captivating way, with depth and a personal look that breaks molds. The modernity of it is of our days but the publication of the book dates from 1943.
Fisher likes to travel -he will have the means to embark and cross the ocean on numerous occasions-, to relate to various people -he prefers cooks and waiters with whom he will establish relationships of complicity-. She is a woman who is interested in local products, in restaurants and in the winery, who values ??the genuine and who knows how to enjoy a feast alone (“To the people who see me on trains and boats or in restaurants, I provoke them a certain resentment, because I have taught myself to be fine alone”).
The kitchen marks a life where there was always a gastronomic perspective: pudding with blackberries or “Hindu eggs” in childhood, tasting the first oyster in boarding school, France and its market products, working in the Swiss garden and the kitchen open to the living room where a slow-cooked ragout dazzled a group of exquisite guests.
“If one of life’s great pleasures is sharing a meal with friends, talking about food follows closely behind. To curl the loop, nothing like talking about food while sharing a table with friends”, wrote the New Yorker Laurie Colwin (1944-1992) more than thirty years ago in 1988 in A writer in the kitchen. Colwin, who died prematurely and unexpectedly, had published stories and novels (So Many Happy Days or Family Happiness are translated into Spanish) before writing about gastronomy – the book at hand and More Home as well as his columns in Gourmet magazine – .
In this fun and entertaining book, the author from Manhattan shares snippets of her domestic life linked to cooking from her childhood to the upbringing of her daughter. She does it in a casual and fresh, close and fun way (her sister with Nora Ephron, the fact of being Jewish and the tone of her sense of humor and analysis of her environment). The contemporaneity of these pages is also surprising here, where diets, fashions, customs and ways of doing things in the kitchen are questioned.
This book has the tone of an informal chat between friends while preparing a dish, where laughter and frank comments are frequent (“barbecues are like sunbathing: everyone knows that it is harmful to health but nobody deprives themselves ”).
It is a homely book, like the broth of childhood. The author praises the homemade broth and considers the soup to be the supreme symbol of protection and comfort. It also exalts the simple life in the face of “the era of haute couture food”, careful, where common sense, affection and slow-cooked preparations prevail, such as the Shabbat evening or the recipe – there are many in the book – of the fried chicken of which Colwin claims to have the irrefutable method for an optimal result (“I can border on fanaticism”).
Laurie Colwin
A writer in the kitchen
Translation by R. López Muñoz Asteroid Books 248 pages 19.95 euros
M.F.K. Fisher
My gastronomic self
Translation by Aba dedeu L’Altra publishing house 320 pages 20.90 euros
