An Extravagant Hunger : The Passionate Years of M.F.K. Fisher

America's preeminent food writer and culinary grande dame, M.F.K. Fisher has influenced today's finest chefs, culinary writers, and legions of rabid readers and eaters. Fisher's career began in the 1930s and spanned decades, her glittering prose blending musings on food, love, sex, and the pleasures of eating well and reveling in the senses. With her dozens of books including Serve it Forth, Consider the Oyster, How to Cook a Wolf and The Gastronomical Me, she pioneered an entirely new sensibility, daring to suggest that food be enjoyed sensually. In this age of celebrity chefs and "reality" food programming, her essays return the conversation to the simple, often intensely personal experience of food and dining--whether it's a five-course affair or the mysteries of the fried egg sandwich. An Extravagant Hunger: The Passionate Years of M.F.K. Fisher, through painstaking research and her private papers and correspondence, traces Fisher's own appetites -- both professional and private. We see how she birthed the genre of food writing. We follow her unhappy first marriage, travels through Europe, the United States, and Mexico ... to the suicide of her great love, and later, her brother. The complete saga, a story never fully told in M.F.K. Fisher's autobiographical work, describes the sometimes turbulent, always passionate intersection of food and personal desire. Anne Zimmerman keeps her voracious appetite filled in the city of San Francisco where she lives and writes about food and wine. A focused, smart, and engaging look at the turbulent private life of the pioneering food writer who taught America the art of eating well ( Publishers Weekly ). In An Extravagant Hunger , the turning points and casual strolls of M.F.K. Fishers life are unwrapped and savored. From the RMS Berengaria that ferried her across the sea to France in 1929, to Le Paquis, the Swiss estate that later provided a backdrop for some of the most idyllic moments of her life, the stories of Fishers love for food, family, and men are meticulously researched and exquisitely captured in this book. Exploring Fishers formative time in Europe with her first husband; her subsequent divorce and remarriage to her creative spark plug, Dillwyn Parrish, and his tragic suicide; and the child she carried from an unnamed father, the story of M.F.K. Fishers life becomes as vibrant and passionate as her prolific words on wine and cuisine. Letters and journal entries piece together a dramatic life, but An Extravagant Hunger goes further, bridging the gaps between personal notes and her public persona, offering an engaging and unprecedented depth of intuitive commentary. With a passion of her own, Anne Zimmerman is the careful witness, lingering beside Fisher through her most dramatic and productive years. In An Extravagant Hunger, time slows and is relished, and the turning points and casual strolls of M.F.K. Fisher's life are unwrapped and savored. From the Berengaria that washed her across the sea to France in 1929, to Le Paquis, the Swiss estate that later provided a backdrop for some of the most idyllic and fleeting moments of her life, the stories of Fisher's love for food and her love for family and men are meticulously researched and exquisitely captured in this book. Exploring Fisher's lonely and formative time in Europe with her first husband; her subsequent divorce and re–marriage to her creative sparkplug, Dillwyn Parrish, and his tragic suicide; and the child she carried from an unnamed father, the story of M.F.K. Fisher's life becomes as vibrant and passionate as her prolific words on wine and cuisine.Letters and journal entries piece together a dramatic life, but An Extravagant Hunger steps further, bridging the gaps between personal notes and her public persona, filling in the silences by offering an engaging and unprecedented depth of intuitive commentary. With a passion of her own, Anne Zimmerman is the careful witness, lingering beside M.F.K. Fisher through her most dramatic and productive years. "In An Extravagant Hunger, time slows and is relished, and the turning points and casual strolls of M.F.K. Fisher's life are unwrapped and savored. From the Berengaria that washed her across the sea to France in 1929, to Le Paquis, the Swiss estate that later provided a backdrop for some of the most idyllic and fleeting moments of her life, the stories of Fisher's love for food and her love for family and men are meticulously researched and exquisitely captured in this book. Exploring Fisher's lonely and formative time in Europe with her first husband and her subsequent divorce and re-marriage to her creative sparkplug, Dillwyn Parrish, and his tragic suicide, the story of M.F.K. Fisher's life becomes as vibrant and passionate as her prolific words on wine and cuisine."--Jacket Contents 10 Foreword: Honeymoon 12 1 A Growing Appetite 20 2 The Art of Knowing Yourself 40 3 Ready, At Last, to Live 56 4 A Charmed Gastronomic Circle 64 5 Letters and Loneliness 84 6 The Pain of Absence 100 7 Depression 122 8 Unspeakable Thoughts 140 9The Edge of Ripeness 154 10 A Pendulum of Desire 172 11 Landscape of Love and Sorrow 192 12 The Color of Mourning 208 13 A Place in the World 222 Epilogue 236 Acknowledgments 248 Author’s Note 250 Bibliography and Sources 252 Notes 256 Index 268 The honeymoon couple A gastronomical primer A constant search Arrival in Paris A charmed gastronomic circle Letters and loneliness The pain of absence The great depression Wild and unspeakable thoughts The edge of ripeness The pendulum of desire Landscape of love and sorrow The color of mourning Her place in the world Epilogue.