Before I dive into the meat of the matter here – a very brief celebration of Colman Andrews’s newest book, The British Table (2016), the impetus that brought me to the page this morning – I’m going to share a few words about how I perceive British food vis-a-vis the United States. Perhaps you’ve thought that I’d…
Category: Chefs
A Juneteenth Commentary: Edna Lewis and the Myths Behind Southern Cooking
Powered by the mythology that has grown up around Southern food over the last several years, many voices claim ownership, hurling harsh accusations of cultural appropriation, and silencing and shaming contrary opinions. The argument is not easy to prove, as it remains hampered by a lack of statistics, contemporary documentation, and clear evidence of outright…
Dare Not to Speak the Name: The Foul Art of Plagiarism in Cookery Books
Poor Hannah Glasse. Literally! Except for Martha Stewart, Glasse may be one of the few cookery book writers who did hard time for financial woes. Author of The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy (1747), this eighteenth-century cookery-book writer lived a life that her contemporary Jane Austen might have invented for a character in one…
The Power and the Glories of Eating Alone
King Louis XIV did it. M. F. K. Fisher did it. The faceless man in Edward Hopper’s painting, “Nighthawks,” did it. Mr. Bean did it, too. And so did I. Daring to eat a proper meal alone in public probably ranks as one of the few acts that cause normally confident people to quiver a…
France and America: Why Paris Haunts Us So
It’s been several days now, the media stream moves onward, darting here and there to other news, other disasters. And yet I remain static, stuck, still mulling over the attacks on Paris, mourning the loss of all those lives, as well as the so-very-French joie de vivre. Why does Paris haunt me, and others, so? In the hours and…
Who is a Chef? Who is a Cook?
There’s a lot of confusion out there about just what constitutes a “chef” versus a “cook.” Oh yes, and it’s a question that many writers have tried to answer. Nothing new there. I’m a big believer in defining terms, realizing of course that terminology and words change meanings over the years. But, that said, and…
