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

273 Pages·2011·1.2 MB·English

by  Anne Zimmerman

U.s. $16.95 Biography
anne
zimmerman
m.F.K. 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, she pioneered an entirely new sensibility, influencing a
whole generation of chefs and writers alongside legions of readers and eaters. her essays A anne zimmerman
return the conversation to the simple, often intensely personal experience of food and h n
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 traces Fisher’s own appetites— e
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both professional and private. From her unhappy first marriage and travels through Europe, x
the United states, and mexico to the suicides of her great love and, later, her brother, the t An
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complete saga describes the sometimes turbulent, always passionate intersection of food R
and personal desire. A Extravagant
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The PassionaTe Years of
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“Fisher’s hopeless struggle for happiness and her soap opera-worthy love life— m . F. K . F i s h e r
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as well as zimmerman’s careful attention to detail and suspenseful

pacing—will keep readers turning these pages.” —The Washington Post
“in her sympathetic yet critical biography of the life behind Fisher’s celebrated
writings, Zimmerman finds a passionate woman defined by ‘lifelong hungers’ . . . m
Focused, smart, and engaging.” —Publishers Weekly
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“Ultimately, An Extravagant Hunger is a book about the complex .P
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process of nourishment . . . [it] is all the more satisfying for being s
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so accessible and unpretentious. of obvious interest to foodies and writers .io
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in particular, it also will appeal to anyone with an interest Fa
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in becoming a better taster of life.” —SF Weekly e
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Anne ZimmermAn has written for many food and wine websites, including Culinate and s

the Kitchn, and is the san Francisco editor for Blackboard eats. she has also compiled and eo
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introduced two collections of Fisher’s work: Love in a Dish and Other Culinary Delights and
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M.F.K. Fisher: Musings on Wine and Other Libations. she lives in san Francisco.
c o u n t e r p o i n t
www.counterpointpress.com ISBN 978-1-58243-804-7 51695
distributed by publishers group west
front cover art by laura parker
back cover photo: courtesy of the m.f.k. fisher estate
9 781582 438047
jacket design by attebery design
An
Extravagant
hungeR

anne zimmerman
An
Extravagant
hungeR
The PassionaTe Years of
m . F. K . F i s h e r
Copyright © 2011 Anne Zimmerman. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American
Copyright Conventions.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Zimmerman, Anne, 1977-
An extravagant hunger : the passionate years of M.F.K. Fisher / Anne Zimmerman.
p. cm.
ISBN-13: 978-1-58243-546-6
ISBN-10: 1-58243-546-4
1. Fisher, M. F. K. (Mary Frances Kennedy), 1908-1992. 2. Authors, American—20th century—
Biography. 3. Food writers—United States—Biography. I. Title.
PS3511.I7428Z99 2011
641'.092—dc22
[B]
2010030883
Jacket design by Gerilyn Attebery
Jacket art by Laura Parker
Interior design by Megan Jones Design
Printed in the United States of America
Counterpoint
1919 Fifth Street
Berkeley, CA 94710
www.counterpointpress.com
Distributed by Publishers Group West
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
robert lescher
for

“We write to taste life twice, in the moment, and in retrospection.”
—anaïs nin

Contents
Foreword: honeymoon 1
•
1 a Growing appetite 9
•
2 The art of Knowing Yourself 29
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3 ready, at Last, to Live 45
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4 a Charmed Gastronomic Circle 53
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5 Letters and Loneliness 73
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6 The Pain of absence 89
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7 Depression 111
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8 Unspeakable Thoughts 129
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9 The edge of ripeness 143
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10 a Pendulum of Desire 161
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11 Landscape of Love and sorrow 181
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12 The Color of mourning 197
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13 a Place in the World 211
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epilogue 225
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Acknowledgments 237
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Author’s note 239
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BiBliogrAphy And sources 241
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notes 245
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index 257
•