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.