The Gastronomical Me

By M.F.K. Fisher

Book Overview

In 1929, a newly married M.F.K. Fisher embarked on a journey that would change her life. In The Gastronomical Me, readers get a firsthand look at the travels that formed the culinary education of one of our greatest modern food writers. As the twenty-one-year-old Fisher and her husband made their way through France--and then much farther afield--a whole new world of flavors and experiences opened up to her. Her account of the meals she shared and the eccentric characters she met along the way unfolds against the backdrop of mounting pre-war tensions and her own growing awareness of how food would soon become her life's work. In these profound, deeply observed reports from her first forays into the world, Fisher created a foundational modern story of travel, food, and self-discovery that influences and inspires readers and writers alike even today.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1250457793
• ISBN13: 9781250457790
• Release Date: October 2026
• Publisher: Picador
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.4" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

who else?

no one could have turned the culinary world into literature. she shames these narrow consumer-oriented marketeers like martha stewart. this is an artist and craftswoman at her best.

A great book for readers of all backgrounds!

Do the former critics not read Tolstoy because he was a Count? I was born into a working class neighborhood in New York, and this is one of my favorite books. Being a gourmand is an enlightened point of view, a matter of personal taste. In my opinion this is Ms. Fisher's very best book. The writing, and the personality, are exquisite. Especially in the chapter about her Father and a childhood journey, and the discovery of her crush on a fellow boarding school student (female) and her love of oysters, at the same time! Am I the only one who feels that I've shared all of those wonderful meals with her when I put down this book? Great to pack along when you are traveling, even if you've read it before!

"Food Takes You Places"

For anyone who lives tactitilly, and for those who enjoy the taste and aroma of white truffles, as well as the ferrous flavor of blood after a good fist fight, MFK Fisher is a catalyst, who not only shares her experience of food and companionship, but triggers ones own memories , good or otherwise, of family, friends and important events. After reading "The Gastronomical Me", I appreciate the memories of youth and the fiestas on Guam, goat cheese and Rioja wine shared with a lover, and "suffering a wound with the pleasure of a scar."

But If It Weren't For Food, Who Would We Be?

M.F.K. Fisher writes with elegant economy about food, and her style, which tends toward the vignette, is savory and inspriring as her subject. Set in short chapters and taking place mostly in France, her tales in The Gastronomical Me use the occasion of mealtime to explore what food serves, which is to say life or, rather, friendship, love, community, and the moments that define and nourish each. The Gastronomical Me concludes with a particularly striking and poignant moment from one of Fisher's trips to Mexico, in which a meal figures prominently in a touching romance that fails. Read this memoir because it is delectable, a bittersweet reminder that we all have gastronomical adventures and that however delicious the food, it is the company we share it with and the emotion it evokes that most powerfully endures.