Food Writing

MFK Fisher. (Image credit: Janet Fries/Hulton Archive via Getty Images.) It's not a stretch to say that the way we think, eat and write about food can be traced directly back to MFK Fisher. The prolific California writer, born Mary Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher but better known by her initials, was "not a recipe writer," says her biographer Anne Zimmerman, author of "An Extravagant Hunger." "She was an eater. She was a sensual person. She enjoyed things. She observed things." In this podcast episode (listen above, or wherever you listen to podcasts), we explore the life of Fisher. Born in 1908, her early musings on food while abroad in France turned into a literary career that produced "The Gastronomical Me," "How to Cook a Wolf" and "Consider the Oyster," among many others. While many write food memoirs today, she is widely credited as inventing the entire genre. In this episode, we explore Fisher's backstory, including a marriage that ended with her husband's suicide, and her insatiable curiosity with the world. "Women's lives are messy and they're episodic. There's reinvention and rebirth," Zimmerman says. "MFK Fisher, she's just an onion with the layers. It's just constantly morphing and shifting." Check out the entire Seasoned project, with more episodes rolling out in the weeks and months ahead. More From This Series Seasoned, Episode 2 - Cecilia ChiangIn San Francisco, an immigrant restaurateur brings authentic Chinese cuisine to the U.S. via The Mandarin. It's a love letter to her childhood in China, pre-Communist Revolution. Seasoned, Episode 3 - Lena RichardDown in the Big Easy, a Creole chef experiments with bold flavors and becomes a forebearer of today's multihyphenate food personality, even as her life is cut short.

Food Writing

Seasoned: Culinary Pioneers – MFK Fisher

Meet MFK Fisher, Who Changed the Way We Write About Food

The Story Exchange

Food Writing

Seasoned: Culinary Pioneers – MFK Fisher

Meet MFK Fisher, Who Changed the Way We Write About Food

The Story Exchange

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