Choice Cuts
Page 48
There is food in the bowl, and more often than not, because of what honesty I have, there is nourishment in the heart, to feed the wilder, more insistent hungers. We must eat. If, in the face of that dread fact, we can find other nourishment, and tolerance and compassion for it, we’ll be no less full of human dignity.
There is a communion of more than our bodies when bread is broken and wine drunk. And that is my answer, when people ask me: Why do you write about hunger, and not wars or love?
—from The Gastronomical Me, 1943
Text Credits
Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reprint previously published material:
Academy Chicago Publishers: excerpt from Blue Trout and Black Truffles by Joseph Wechsberg. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
American Scientist: excerpt from “The Changing Significance of Food” from American Scientist V. 58(2) 176–181. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
Arizona State University: excerpts from Platina: On Right Pleasure and Good Health: A Critical Edition and Translation of De Honesta Voluptate et Valetudine, edited by Mary Ella Milham, MRTS vol. 168 (Tempe, AZ, 1998), pp. 121, 131, 151, 153, 183, 185, 197, 213, 215. Copyright Arizona Board of Regents for Arizona State University.
Avalon Publishing Group: “The Peasant Declares His Love” by Emile Roumer from The Negritude Poets by Ellen Conroy Kennedy. Copyright ©1975 by Ellen Conroy Kennedy. Appears by permission of the publisher, Thunder’s Mouth Press.
E. J. Brill: excerpts from The Aobu Tu translated by Hans Vogel. Permission conveyed through Copyright Clearance Center, Inc.
Curtis Brown, Ltd.: excerpts from Letters from Iceland by W. H. Auden. Copyright ©1937 by W. H. Auden, renewed. Reprinted by permission of Curtis Brown, Ltd.
Alan Davidson: excerpt from Dumas on Food by Alexandre Dumas, translated by Jane and Alan Davidson, Folio Society, London. Reprinted by permission of the author.
C. Davidson & R. Ducas Literary Agency: excerpts from The Fruit, Herbs and Vegetables of Italy by Giacomo Castelvetro, translated by Gillian Riley, Viking, The Penguin Group (UK). Reprinted by permission of C. Davidson and R. Ducas Literary Agency.
Dover Publications, Inc.: excerpts from Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome by Apicius, translated by Joseph Dommers Vehling. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC: excerpt from Between Meals by A. J. Liebling.
Copyright ©1979 by Tom Wolfe. Reprinted by permission of North Point Press, a division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC.
Kraft Foods Inc.: advertisement from 1929 for KNOX® Gelatine: “Dainty Desserts for Dainty People.” KNOX® is a registered trademark of KF Holdings. Reprinted by permission of Kraft Foods Inc.
Lawrence Ferlinghetti: “Recipe for Happiness in Karbaraovsk or anyplace” copyright ©1972 by Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Reprinted by permission of Lawrence Ferlinghetti.
David R. Godine, Publisher, Inc.: excerpt from Clémentine in the Kitchen by Samuel Chamberlain, edited by Narcisse G. Chamberlain. Reprinted by permission of David R. Godine, Publisher, Inc. Copyright ©Samuel Chamberlain, Edited by Narcisse G. Chamberlain.
Harcourt, Inc.: excerpt from To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf. Copyright 1927 by Harcourt, Inc. and renewed 1954 by Leonard Woolf. Excerpt from Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell. Copyright 1933 by George Orwell and renewed 1961 by Sonia Pitt-Rivers. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
HarperCollins Publishers Inc.: “Whitebait and Oyster Crabs” from Cooking à la Ritz by Louis Diat. Copyright 1941 by Louis Diat, renewed ©1969 by Mrs. Louis Diat. Excerpts from The Origin of Table Manners: Introduction to a Science of Mythology, Volume 3 by Claude Levi-Strauss. Copyright ©1968 by Librairie Plon; English translation copyright ©1978 by Jonathan Cape Ltd. and Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. Excerpt from Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry. Copyright 1947 by Margerie Lowry. Excerpts from The Alice B. Toklas Cook Book by Alice B. Toklas. Copyright 1954 by Alice B. Toklas. Copyright renewed 1982 by Edward M. Burns. Foreword copyright ©1984 by M.F.K. Fisher. Publisher’s note copyright ©1984 by Simon Michael Bessie. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
Harvard University Press: excerpts from Plato: Volume III-Gorgias, Loeb Classical Library Volume L 166, translated by W.R.M. Lamb, Cambridge, Mass, Harvard University Press, 1925. The Loeb Classical Library® is a registered trademark of The President and Fellows of Harvard College. Reprinted by permission of Harvard University Press.
David Higham Associates: excerpts from English Food by Jane Grigson, Penguin UK. Reprinted by permission of David Higham Associates.
Indiana University Press: excerpts from Classic Russian Cooking by Elena Molokhovets. Reprinted by permission of Indiana University Press.
Kodansha International: excerpt from Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art by Shizuo Tsuji. ©1980. Published and reprinted by permission of Kodansha International.
Kraft Foods Inc.: advertisement from 1929 for KNOX® Gelatine: Dainty Desserts for Dainty People. KNOX® is a registered trademark of KF Holdings. Reprinted by permission of Kraft Foods Inc.
Peter Lang Publishing, Inc.: excerpts from Chiquart’s On Cookery translated by Terence Scully. Copyright 1986 by Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., reprinted by permission of the publisher.
Little, Brown and Company: “Ode to the Artichoke” and “Ode to the Onion” from Odes to Common Things by Pablo Neruda. Copyright ©1994 by Pablo Neruda and Fundacion Pablo Neruda (Odes Spanish); copyright ©1994 by Ken Krabbenhoft (Odes English translation); copyright ©1994 by Ferris Cook (illustration and compilation). Used by permission of Little, Brown and Company, (Inc.).
The Lyons Press: excerpts from The Unprejudiced Palate by Angelo Pellegrini. Reprinted with permission from The Lyons Press, Guilford, CT 06437.
Music Sales Corporation and Universal-MCA Music Publishing: lyrics from “Angelina (The Waitress at the Pizzeria)” words and music by Doris Fisher and Allan Roberts. Copyright ©1944, renewed 1971 by Universal-MCA Music Publishing o/b/o Doris Fisher Music Corp. (ASCAP) and Allan Roberts Music. Music Sales Corporation (ASCAP) administers all U.S. rights for Allan Roberts Music. International copyright secured. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Music Sales Corporation and Universal-MCA Music Publishing.
The Penguin Group (UK): excerpt from pp. 229–230, 225 from Natural History by Pliny the Elder, translated by John F. Healy (Penguin Classics, 1991). Translation copyright © John F. Healy, 1991. Excerpt from p. 121 from The Agricola and the Germania by Tacitus, translated by H. Mattingly, revised byS. A. Handford (Penguin Classics 1948, Revised edition 1970), copyright © the Estate of H. Mattingly, 1948, 1970. Copyright © S. A. Handford, 1970. Reprinted by permission of Penguin Books Ltd.
Penguin Putnam Inc.: “The Search” by Sholom Aleichem, translated by Norbert Guterman from A Treasury of Yiddish Stories by Irving Howe and Eliezer Greenberg, editors. Copyright 1953, 1954, 1989 by Viking Penguin, renewed ©1981, 1982 by Irving Howe and Eva Greenberg. Used by permission of Viking Penguin, a division of Penguin Putnam Inc. “Garlic Presses Are Utterly Useless,” “The Pizza and the Pissaladiere,” “Toast” from English Bread and Yeast Cookery by Elizabeth David. Copyright ©1977 by Elizabeth David. Copyright ©1980 by Viking Penguin, Inc. Used by permission of Viking Penguin, a division of Penguin Putnam Inc. “Starvation under the Orange Trees” copyright ©1938, renewed ©1966 by John Steinbeck from America and Americans and Selected Nonfiction by John Steinbeck, edited by Susan Shillinglaw & J. Benson. Used by permission of Penguin, a division of Penguin Putnam Inc.
Prospect Books: excerpts from: Medieval Arab Cookery; The Essence of Cooking by Karl Friedrich von Rumohr, translated by Barbara Yeomans; The Life of Luxury by Archestratus, translated by Shaun Holt; De Agricultura by Cato; The Accomplisht Cook by Robert May. Reprinted by permission of Prospect Books, Totnes, UK.
Random House, Inc.: excerpt from “Swann’s Way” from Remembrance of Things Past: Volume I by Marcel Proust, transl
ated by C. K. Scott Moncrieff and Terence Kilmartin. Copyright ©1981 by Random House, Inc., and Chatto & Windus. Used by permission of Random House, Inc. Recipes from The Art of Eating Well by Pellegrino Artusi. Copyright ©1996 by Kyle Phillips III. Used by permission of Random House, Inc. Excerpts from Aké: The Years of Childhood by Wole Soyinka.
Copyright ©1981 by Wole Soyinka. Used by permission of Random House, Inc. Excerpts from The Leopard by Giuseppe di Lampedusa, translated by Archibald Colquhoun. Translation copyright ©1960 and renewed 1988 by Wm. Collins Sons & Co., Inc., and Pantheon Books, Inc. Used by permission of Pantheon Books, a division of Random House, Inc. Excerpt from The Bialy Eaters by Mimi Sheraton. Copyright ©2000 by Mimi Sheraton. Used by permission of Broadway Books, a division of Random House, Inc. Excerpt from The Food of France by Waverly Root. Copyright ©1958, 1966 by Waverly Root. Used by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc. Excerpts from Beard on Food by James Beard. Copyright ©1974 by James Beard. Used by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc. Excerpt from The Epigrams of Martial translated by James Michie. Copyright ©1972 by James Michie. Notes copyright ©1972 by James Michie. Used by permission of Modern Library, a division of Random House, Inc. Excerpts from The Physiology of Taste by Jean Brillat-Savarin, translated by M.F.K. Fisher. Copyright ©1949 by the George Macy Companies, Inc. Used by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc.
Readers International Inc.: excerpts from The Gourmet by Lu Wenfu. Copyright Readers International Inc. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
Running Press Book Publishers: excerpts from James Beard: Delights and Prejudices, © renewed 1992 by the Executors of the Will of James A. Beard. ©1964 by James Beard, illustrations copyright ©1977, 1983 by Karl W. Stuecklen, Introductory Note ©1999 by Julia Child, Foreword copyright ©2001 by Charlie Trotter, published by Running Press Book Publishers, Philadelphia and London. Used by permission of Running Press Book Publishers.
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture: “The Tropics in New York” from Harlem Shadows by Claude McKay. Copyright ©1922 by Claude McKay. Courtesy of the Literary Representative for the Works of Claude McKay, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations.
Simon & Schuster: excerpt from “People of the Seine” in A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway. Copyright ©1964 by Mary Hemingway. Copyright renewed ©1992 by John H. Hemingway, Patrick Hemingway, and Gregory Hemingway. Reprinted by permission of Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group. Excerpt from Ernest Hemingway letter to Charles Scribner, May 18–19, 1951, p. 728, from Ernest Hemingway: Selected Letters, 1917–1961 edited by Carlos Baker. Copyright ©1981 The Ernest Hemingway Foundation, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group. Excerpts from Food by Waverly Root. Copyright ©1980 by Waverly Root. Reprinted by permission of Simon & Schuster. “Blackbird Pie” and “Hush Puppies” from Cross Creek Cookery by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. Copyright ©1942 by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings; copyright renewed ©1970 by Norton Baskin. Reprinted by permission of Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group.
The Society of Authors: “Porridge or Prunes Sir” by E. M. Forster. Reprinted by permission of The Provost and Scholars of King’s College, Cambridge and the Society of Authors as the Literary Representatives of the E. M. Forster Estate.
Taylor & Francis Books Ltd: excerpts from Galen on Food and Diet by Mark Grant, Routledge, 2000. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
University of California Press: excerpts from The Complete Works of François Rabelais edited/translated by Donald Frame. Copyright ©1991 The Regents of the University of California. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
The University of Michigan Press: excerpt from The Neapolitan Recipe Collection: Cuoco Napoletano by Terence Scully (Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2000). Copyright ©2002 by The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
University of Nevada Press: excerpts from Traditional Basque Cooking: History and Preparation by José Maria Busca Isusi. Copyright 1987 by José Maria Busca Isusi. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
University of Ottawa Press: excerpts from The Viandier of Taillevent edited by Terence Scully. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 1988. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
Warner Bros. Publications: excerpt from the lyrics of “Everybody Eats When They Come to My House” by Jeanne Burns. ©1948 (renewed) EMI Mills Music, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Warner Bros. Publications U.S. Inc., Miami, FL 33014.
Harriet Wasserman Literary Agency, Inc.: excerpt from The Oysters of Locmariaquer by Eleanor Clark. ©1959 Eleanor Clark. Used by permission of Harriet Wasserman Literary Agency, Inc.
Wiley Publishing, Inc.: excerpts from The Art of Eating by M.F.K. Fisher. Copyright ©1990 M.F.K. Fisher. All rights reserved. Reproduced here by permission of Wiley Publishing, Inc.
Williamson Music: excerpt on pp.71–73 from the lyrics of “Lunching at the Automat” by Irving Berlin. © Copyright 1970 by Irving Berlin. © Copyright renewed. International copyright secured. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission.
Photo Credits
Museum of the City of New York: Berenice Abbott: Automat, 977 Eighth Avenue, February 10, 1936, and Chicken Market, 55 Hester Street, February 11, 1937. Used with permission.
To Jack and Rubye Monet
for a hundred meals of roasts, red wine,
salad, cheese (with butter?), laughter,
and debate in two languages over three decades
Acknowledgments
Thanks to Michael Millman, for coming to me with the idea for this book; Nancy Miller, for pushing me to make the book better; and Charlotte Sheedy, for her enthusiastic backing. Thanks to Caroline Miller for much hard work and perseverance. A warm thanks to Rabbi Rolando Matalon for his guidance in the Talmud. Thanks also to Maya Baran, for introducing me to the wonderful work of her grandfather Angelo Pellegrini; to Matt Sartwell and Nach Waxman, for many valuable suggestions; to the wonderful chanteuse Daryl Sherman, for her advice; to Donald C. Kraus at Oxford University Press for his advice and assistance; and to Sarah Shanon, for a hundred helpful things. Thank you, John Ash, for your M.F.K. Fisher story. And most especially, thanks to Marian Mass across the table—thanks for the smile, the wit, the thoughts, that make eating dining.
Other books by Mark Kurlansky
Salt: A World History
The Basque History of the World
Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World
A Chosen Few: The Resurrection of European Jewry
A Continent of Islands: Searching for the Caribbean Destiny
The White Man in the Tree and Other Stories (fiction)
The Cod’s Tale (for children)