MFK Fisher's Alphabet for Gourmets is a fine way to quell the winter blues and her chapter "W is for Wanton" could not be more apropos.
The text's description of a seductive supper relying on tactful plotting and artful skill as opposed to stiff liquor is bound to get the blood boiling whetting the appetite for the sensual pleasures of gastronomy that only the female bird can churn.
Fisher describes the sexual advantage of a woman who rules the roost a.k.a her kitchen well. She is right - cooking for someone is generous, caring, and down right sexy - lard me down with love and make those biscuits extra flaky!
Even the greatest of Venetian courtesans knew how to approach and use food to their better advantage subtly pairing the stomach and mind for the ultimate booby trap.
Therefore, I could not resist assigning this piece for my Food Literature course that took place this past November at the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo, Italy. Fortunately, my students enjoyed it and we had a good chuckle, remarked on Fisher's ineffable style and beautiful prose, and discussed the symbolic gestures surrounding food and how the act of cooking goes beyond nourishment.
"There is [indeed] a communion of more than our bodies when bread and wine are broken" as Fisher asserts in the opening of Gastronomical Me. Yes, we need something to feed the the wilder, more insistent hungers - and a wanton woman is too apt to curl up at home and brood.
Thank you for saluting one of my favorite authors. In my generation, only Ruth Reichl comes close to writing about food with the same emotion.
Posted by: Gerry | 12/15/2011 at 02:16 AM
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Posted by: elwira | 01/28/2013 at 12:31 PM