S E Schlosser

Food writing is a literary genre that delves into the multifaceted role of food in human culture, history, and personal experience. It encompasses a wide range of forms, from recipes and journalism to memoirs and travelogues, appearing in both fictional and non-fictional works. Writers in this field examine how food intersects with agriculture, ecology, politics, and memory, often aiming to evoke an aesthetic experience rather than simply convey information. The term "food writing" gained prominence in the 1990s, though the practice itself has ancient roots. Key figures like M. F. K. Fisher have described their work as exploring the intertwined nature of hunger, love, and satisfaction. The genre can be broadly categorized into the "mock epic," which humorously elevates culinary subjects, and the "mystical microcosmic," which poetically explores deeper meanings. Food writing also encompasses criticism, journalism, and historical accounts, with contemporary food journalism addressing issues like public health and climate change.

Food writers perceive food not just as sustenance but as a significant cultural phenomenon. They recognize its fundamental importance to life, its role as a major industry, and its status as a frequent source of pleasure. Furthermore, food is understood to be intricately linked to societal issues such as disease and mortality. The scope of food writing is vast, connecting the subject to agriculture, ecology, humanity's relationship with nature, climate, nation-building, cultural conflicts, social alliances, warfare, and even religion. It also deeply involves memory, tradition, and sometimes, personal relationships.

Beyond factual reporting, food writing often strives for a more literary and aesthetic dimension. Writers aim to provide readers with an evocative experience, exploring the deeper emotional and sensory aspects of food. This can involve connecting culinary experiences to profound human needs and emotions. For instance, M. F. K. Fisher viewed her writing as an exploration of how hunger, love, and the satisfaction of basic human desires are inextricably linked. Food writing can thus transform a simple recipe or meal into a meditation on existence, memory, and fulfillment, moving beyond the purely informational to the deeply resonant and experiential.

The field of food writing can be understood through different lenses, such as the "mock epic" and the "mystical microcosmic." The "mock epic" approach humorously treats the pursuit of food with exaggerated importance, while the "mystical microcosmic" delves poetically into the profound meanings of food experiences. While the term "food writing" is a modern designation, emerging in the 1990s, its historical antecedents are significant, with foundational works predating the term. The practice encompasses various sub-fields, including food criticism, journalism, and history, with contemporary food journalism expanding to address critical global issues.

“Food is essential to life. It's arguably our nation's biggest industry. Food, not sex, is our most frequently indulged pleasure. Food—too much, not enough, the wrong kind, the wrong frequency—is one of our society's greatest causes of disease and death.”

“Food is about agriculture, about ecology, about man's relationship with nature, about the climate, about nation-building, cultural struggles, friends and enemies, alliances, wars, religion. It is about memory and tradition and, at times, even about sex.”

“It seems to me our three basic needs, for food and security and love, are so mixed and mingled and entwined that we cannot straightly think of one without the others. So it happens that when I write of hunger, I am really writing about love and the hunger for it, and warmth and the love of it and the hunger for it ... and then the warmth and richness and fine reality of hunger satisfied ... and it is all one.”

“The mock epic (A. J. Liebling, Calvin Trillin, the French writer Robert Courtine, and any good restaurant critic) is essentially comic and treats the small ambitions of the greedy eater as though they were big and noble, spoofing the idea of the heroic while raising the minor subject to at least temporary greatness.”

“The mystical microcosmic, of which Elizabeth David and M. F. K. Fisher are the masters, is essentially poetic, and turns every remembered recipe into a meditation on hunger and the transience of its fulfillment.”