You may think that my primary interest in food is rather conventional - that is, eating it. But oftentimes for me the relationship ventures onto a whole other plane, one of sublime pleasure, spirituality, aspiration, exhilaration, and a rather deep and wholesome relief, like recognizing an old friend in a sea of strange faces.
As long as I can remember, I took special pleasure in reading about food, especially reading long descriptions of meals in novels. One I remember very well appeared in Mary Stewart's The Crystal Cave, a tale of how the legendary Merlin grew from a boy to a powerful wizard.
In this meal, Merlin had not eaten for days and after being bullied by some officers was taken into the care of Cadal, a kindly servant. "Cadal served me himself, and even fetched fresh bread hot from the bakehouse, where the first batch had just come out for morning. The soup was some savoury concoction of shellfish...smoking hot and delicious, and I thought I had never eaten anything so good, until I tried the chicken, crisp-fried in oil, and the grilled sausages, brown and bursting with spiced meat and onions. I mopped the platter dry with the new bread, and shook my head when Cadal handed a dish of dried dates and cheese and honey cakes."
There is something about the sensory detail and the curiosity of what food was like in another time and place that gets to me. I mean, doesn't that passage make you really want to know what a medieval honey cake tastes like?
These days I find myself reluctantly inspired by food bloggers who do what they do much better than I do. Part of me wants to hate them because they are young-ish and seem to live the kind of lives I only dream about. But I can't deny how transportive their writing and photography is for me.
- Molly Wizenberg, aka Orangette. Sushmita was the first to suggest I check out this blog. At first I found the lengthy entries and smug photography a bit insufferable, but I somehow found myself going back, which is saying a lot for someone who doesn't use Google Reader to keep track of blog-reading. Molly's blog is not so much about food as it is about the experience, stories, and imaginings that surround food. She's like a modern-day MFK Fisher. For me, it was the introduction to her new book, A Homemade Life, that really struck a chord in me. I completely agree with at least two things she said in it. First, "Food is never just food. It's also a way of getting at something else: who we are, who we have been, and who we want to be." And second, "Like most people who love to cook, I like the tangible things. I like the way the knife claps when it meets the cutting board. I like the haze of sweet air that hovers over a hot cake as it sits, cooling, on the counter. I like the way a strip of orange peel looks on an empty plate." Incidentally, I go straight for Molly's regular column every month when my Bon Appetit arrives in the mail. I'm going to try her recipe for gougeres sometime soon.
- Carol Blymire, creator of French Laundry at Home and Alinea at Home. Anyone who has the discipline and foolhardy tenacity to cook their way through such ambitious works by such venerable chefs must be commended under all circumstances. In her words: "I'm cooking my way through the Alinea Cookbook. Because I can. I think."
- Peter Hertzmann, who writes for A La Carte. I stumbled across one of his articles when looking for a good explanation of what is fromage blanc and what one can do with it. His articles, released monthly, proffer a wealth of little-known facts and practical know-how, mostly based in the French discipline, for the intrepid home chef. So traditional and informative!
- Ree Drummond, aka The Pioneer Woman: A city mouse transplanted to a cattle ranch. Try scrolling through one of her entries really fast, and it's like watching a video demonstration of how things are done. Pause briefly for explanations and answers. I like her crisp, delectable photography and focus on basic, good home cooking.
- Genevieve Wang, my personal friend who likes muffins. She's one of the few people I know who meditates on and loves food even more than I do. You know she's a kindred spirit when she attempted ~15 times in the past six years to replicate a special kind of Belgian waffle she tasted from a street vendor in Germany.
- Elise Bauer, creator of Simply Recipes. For once, a blog that delivers exactly what it promises. Straightforward and chock-ful of delicious recipe resources.
Keep in mind, the featured blogs above have a decided focus on cooking and creating food even more than eating it; restaurant blogs are in a separate category that I might treat in a separate post.
