M.F.K. Fisher and Me: A Memoir of Food & Friendship

From Booklist
In this new edition of Ferrary's memoir of her years with the writer M. F. K. Fisher, the author sets herself a daunting task. She has to add somehow to the vast amount of autobiographical material that Fisher left behind. Fisher's eye for setting and for character was sharp and generally unforgiving, so most followers of Fisher's works harbor few illusions that require another's debunking. Ferrary's Fisher comes across as opinionated, daunting, and blunt, but rarely thoughtless or cruel. Fisher became cookery's grande dame for her masterful translation of Brillat-Savarin's The Physiology of Taste and for her memoirs of food and of France. Her domination of the literature of food was ever tempered by her quirky tastes that deflated food snobbism and demystified the pleasures of the table. Her friendship with Ferrary as documented here consistently reflects Fisher's uncompromisingly honest outlook. Mark Knoblauch


Review
"If any one person influenced me to move to Provence, it was M.F.K. Fisher...Like many of her admirers, I'm sure, I often thought what a pleasure it would have been to meet her, even more after reading this memoir. There are writers who have said all they have to say in their writing, and so meeting them is something of a disappointment. But these glimpses of a great writer reveal a fascinating woman, an if there is ever a celestial lunch organized in the hereafter, I would clearly love to be with her at the table." --Peter Mayle, from the Introduction

"Thoroughly charming...she writes with love and respect of the writer she esteems and cherishes. Admirers of M.F.K. Fisher's work will be grateful for this warm appreciation."



Book Description
In the world of food, M.F.K. Fisher remains the patron saint. No one in our launguage has bestowed such dignity and such mythic dimension upon the taking of our daily bread. M.F.K. Fisher and Me takes us behind the persona of the woman who revolutionized the way Americans think about food. Ferrary shows us Fisher in her daily life: at work and play in her kitchen, sipping drinks on the veranda of her California ranch; flirting like a coquette; struggling valiantly against the ravages of age--and through it all never failing to surprise--if not shock--even those who think they know her best. M.F.K. Fischer was a woman who shunned being portrayed, yet Jeannette Ferrary has given us an intimate look at her life.

M.F.K. Fisher and Me is a story of a young woman's relationship with a famous and charismatic older woman. Such friendsips are rare and valuable, and they are rarely brough tto life with the eloquance and zest that Jeannette Ferrary brings to M.F.K. Fisher and Me.



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If any one person influenced me to move to Provence, it was M.F.K. Fisher... like many of her admirers, I'm sure, I often thought what a pleasure it would have been to meet her, even more after reading this memoir. There are writers who have said all they have to say in their writing, and so meeting them is something of a disappointment. But these glimpses of a great writer reveal a fascinating woman, and if there is ever a celestial lunch organized in the hereafter, I would dearly love to be with her at the table.


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