Digging In

I'm still reading Stephen King's On Writing (in between reading other books for work and pleasure), and really enjoying it. But before I finish, now seems like a good time to start brainstorming ideas for my first topic. Based on some articles I've read and interviews I've heard recently, I've been reminded that I like food writing, but haven't really read much of it. Since the holiday season is basically a month of thinking about, talking about, and eating delicious food, this seemed like a good topic to start with.

The two specific inspirations for this topic idea are an article and a podcast.

First, I recently read and enjoyed "Mozzarella Story" by Calvin Trillin, from the December 2 issue of The New Yorker. Not the most earth-shattering piece of food writing, but it was charming, nostalgic, and made me want to seek out the nearest ball of fresh mozzarella.

The second inspiration was an interview on Slate's Culture Gabfest with Luke Barr, the author of Provence 1970 and the great-nephew of M.F.K. Fisher. His book is about a season that found many of the leading figures in 20th century cuisine (including M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child, James Beard, and Judith Jones) all living in the south of France, cooking for each other and arguing about food. Reviews of the book have been good, and their conversation highlighted for me how little I know about how we arrived at the food culture we have today.

Both of these whetted my appetite (sorry) for more writing about food and food culture. I have a lot of ideas about things to read, so the real challenge will be whittling it down to a list of three or four. Initial thoughts include:

1. M.F.K. Fisher (How to Cook a Wolf? Something else? She wrote so much!)
2. Julia Child's My Life in France
3. Calvin Trillin (The Tummy Trilogy would give me three for the price of one)
4. A more contemporary food memoir
5. Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma probably)
6. One of the Best Food Writing anthologies
7. Salt, Sugar, Fat by Michael Moss

Recognizing that I'm only going to be scratching the surface, let me know if you have a top one or two that shouldn't be missed. 

Education on a Shoestring

Almost every day I find myself listening to the radio, reading an article, or watching TV and thinking, "Huh, that's interesting. I wish I knew more about that." I'm not in college anymore, and continuing education classes can be expensive, so I don't have the opportunity to dive deeply into each new topic for a semester, with an expert to guide me. But I am constantly surrounded by smart people and good books, and if I find the time to write at least a little about what I'm reading, learning, and thinking about a topic, I figure I can fashion myself a mini-course on almost any subject.

So, the plan: For each topic, I'll pick three or four books (hopefully with suggestions from you) that come at the topic from different angles. I'll post here about each book, what I'm learning, how it's making me think differently about the topic, and what directions it's prompting me to go in next. Some of my initial ideas are very broad, but as I read more and get more suggestions, I'm sure I'll find myself in deeper and deeper subcategories.

As a sort of prerequisite, I'm going to start with On Writing by Stephen King. I've always enjoyed writing, but it's a muscle I haven't flexed seriously since my last year of grad school, so it seems like an appropriate place to start. That will also give me time to sort through and prioritize my many topic ideas (everything from cognitive science to zombies).

Note: On the "Syllabus" page I'll keep a running list of themes and genres I'd like to explore, and I'll update with links to posts by topic as I go.