MARY FRANCES KENNEDY FISHER was the preeminent American food writer. She wrote thirty-three books, including a translation of The Physiology of Taste by Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin. Her first book, Serve It Forth, was published in 1937. Fisher's books are an amalgam of food literature, travel, and memoir. BETTY FUSSELL was born in Southern California in 1927. Her most recent book is Eat, Live, Love, Die. She was recently celebrated, along with other winners of the Silver Spoon Award, by Food Arts magazine.
Table of Contents
THE FEAST OF KNOWLEDGE xi
THE BOOK AND THE FLEA xiii
I. IN THE BEGINNING: The Bible 3
II. GLORIOUS DESCENDANTS: China 11
III. HUNGRY FOR PHOENIX-EGGS: The Adventurers 34
IV. THE PEACOCK'S PLUME: Egypt , Greece , Rome ONE 52
V. MAN'S MEAT: Cannibals and Poisoners 80
VI. PARFIT GENTIL KNIGHTS: The Middle Ages 89
VII. NOBLE AND ENOUGH: The Renaissance 103
VIII. VANITY FAIR: Eighteenth- and Nineteenth- Century England 118
IX. A CONFUSION OF TONGUES: Russia, France, Germany, and England 174
X. THIS NOBLE FLUMMERY: Fantasy 243
XI. O PIONEERS! America 270
