5 Foodie Memoirs to Enjoy
As you may have gathered by now (pun only slightly intended), I am passionate about people eating together in community. There is something about experiencing a new flavor or combination of spices and talking and laughing with the people you love most. I think it is magical and that something holy happens in that space. A separate passion of mine, is reading. When I lose myself in the pages of a book I feel like I step into my happy place and all is right in the world. When both of these passions can be combined, even better!
Through the years I have read several foodie memoirs that have both transported me into a different world and lent the feeling of experiencing tastes and flavors on their own. Here are a few I thoroughly enjoyed and heartily recommend:
I personally feel like M.F.K. Fisher could be the founder of all food writing. I don’t know if that is historically accurate or not but I feel like she should be. She wrote for years about food and cooking in such a way that is transportive. Her writing truly allows you to walk her experiences with her and I think of the stories she shares often. In Gastronomical Me, she chronicles the moments of her life that contributed to her overall taste. From growing up in Southern California in the early 1900-1920s, attending a private boarding school through her school years, and traveling to Europe as a newly-wed, her readers get a taste of the flavors and meals that made her into the writer and cook she became. I love memoirs in general that can sweep you away and Fisher does so in a way that makes me want to drop everything and move to France, if only for the food. The way this particular book is written has always made me think about my own gastronomical making as well. I still remember certain flavors vividly from my childhood and or favorite dishes of dear relatives and it is an interesting perspective to think about how each of those experiences contribute to one’s overall taste. Her next book on my list is An Alphabet for Gourmets, have you read it? Have you read any of her other works that you loved?
Bread & Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table with Recipes: Shauna Niequist - Goodreads I Amazon
Shauna Niequist has been a favorite of mine for many years and this book of hers was delightful. She often writes about food and cooking in some way in all of her works but this one in particular is a delightful love letter to gathering together, as the title suggests. I have always loved her honesty and transparency in writing about life’s delights and struggles and finding joy in day to day moments. When I first read this book, I was so enchanted reading about the ways she gathers people around her table and her journey of cooking that I kept putting off reading the ending, I didn’t want to finish the book too soon. This book features recipes throughout and it has become my go-to gift for friends and family with a similar desire to gather together. I think it is time for a reread and I hope you love it as much as I do.
My Life in France: Julia Child - Goodreads I Amazon
This title is considered a classic in the food writing world and the movie Julie and Julia was based partly on this memoir by Julia Child. I have to confess, I didn’t read this book until this year, and I was surprised to find such a kindred spirit in her. Julia Child was an absolute pioneer in bringing French cooking to American audiences and somehow in my mind, that made her distant and unrelatable. I was pleasantly surprised to find otherwise while reading her book. I didn’t realize she didn’t start working on her cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, until she was in her 40s! On top of that, she worked for years on creating and testing recipes that would work for American audiences. The success of her cookbook was not overnight by any means, and I loved getting a behind the scenes peek of everything that went into her work. Her experience of living in France with her husband was incredible to read about, they embraced the culture and flavors whole-heartedly and she discusses in detail how they fell in love with the country and the culture. I especially loved the pictures they featured from the Valentine’s cards they would send to friends and family, in some places I found myself laughing out loud. I didn’t expect to connect with this couple or Julia Child so completely but I truly did.
As I write this post I am realizing a theme here, apparently I especially love food memoirs that have to do with France in some way! This one is no exception. In a similar format as M.F.K. Fisher, Wizenberg shares stories about her experiences growing up in a foodie family and as an adult that contributed to her overall taste and cooking preferences. She shares stories of traveling to Paris as a child with her family and then as an adult and how the flavors she experienced imprinted themselves on her taste. As she writes about the way she grew into a cook, she does so through the lens of losing her father a few years before. When I read this book, I had recently lost a dearly loved family member, and I could relate to the way she remembered her father through specific tastes and flavors. How visiting a place or a circumstance would always remind her of him. And how it was easy to look back on all memories through rose colored glasses and only dwell on the happy times. Oftentimes a book will find its way into your hands at exactly the right moment and this was certainly one of those occasions for me.
Lunch in Paris: A Love Story, with Recipes: Elizabeth Bard - Goodreads I Amazon
If I hadn’t noticed a theme before, this certainly confirms it! This delightful memoir recounts the author’s experience of traveling to live in Paris where she then meets the man who would become her husband. She tells her story of falling in love both with the city and her husband and how she was drawn into a different way of life. The first time her husband cooked for her, he seemed to make a delicious meal appear out of thin air and practically no ingredients that she could see. She speaks of the markets, of creating a home in a foreign land, and experiencing the cultural differences between her home country and France through something as seemingly simple as the way one interacts with one’s doctor. I loved they way she incorporated the recipes of the food she was experiencing throughout the book and I found myself laughing out loud when she explained trying to make friends as an adult in a new country. I really enjoyed this one, and clearly I need to go to France and have my own adventures. Should I take this as a sign?
What are your favorite foodie memoirs? Are there any particular that are set in a place you keep coming back to? There are a few on my shelf that I can’t wait to get to, what is next on your list?