‘It seems to me that our three basic needs, for food and security and love, are so mixed and mingled and entwined that we cannot straightly think of one without the others.’ M. F. K. Fisher, The Gastronomical Me
Greetings from Hoxton Square. As you all know, each issue of Slightly Foxed is a real feast of interesting and varied bookish delights, and this quarter’s issue (No. 79) is no exception. We were particularly taken with Olivia Potts’s piece on Marguerite Patten but with Cookery in Colour sadly out of print, we’ve been discussing our favourite food writing, and in particular those books being given a second life by publishers like Daunt Books Publishing.
One such recent reissue is An Alphabet for Gourmets by M. F. K. Fisher, the food writer to whom we dedicated not one but two articles in SF Issue No. 13. While Humphrey and Solveig Stone each paid homage to their friendship with ‘M. F.’, Jane Lunzer Gifford focussed on her writings and her ‘extraordinary’ passion for ‘the art of eating, of living, of appreciating with depth and determination all that she believed to be vital to life.’
Please read on for an extract from Jane’s article together with a link to read her piece in full on the Slightly Foxed website, and for delights from M. F. K. F. along with a taste of some of the recommended food writing from the Slightly Foxed bookshop.
With best wishes, as ever, from the SF office staff
Hattie, Jess, Charlotte & India