Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher is one of the most authoritative, loved and oft-quoted food writers of the twentieth century.
She was born Mary Frances Kennedy on the 3rd of July 1908 in the town of Albion, Michigan. Raised and educated in California, she was later married to Alfred Fisher in 1929. They traveled together to France and lived there for some years. It was Fisher's time spent in Europe along with subsequent visits that fuelled her passion for gastronomy, writing and a living with a sense of style.
Along with her work on food and cookery she published numerous travel essays and several works of fiction. Fisher is widely regarded as the instigator of the food essay genre and to this reader, is one of the most successful. She imbues her work with a tangible sense of joy for living and eating well.
Recognition bestowed upon Fisher for her work and achievements include being elected to the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters as well as lifetime achievement awards from the James Beard Foundation and The American Institute of Wine and Food.
M.F.K. Fisher died in California on June 22nd 1992, sadly and ironically within a month of another of the greatest food writers of her era, Elizabeth David. She leaves behind a stunning and formidable written testimony to her life.
Serve it Forth (1937)
Consider the Oyster (1941)
How to Cook a Wolf (1942)
The Gastronomical Me (1943)
An Alphabet for Gourmets (1949)
A Cordiall Water: A Garland of Odd & Old Receipts to Assuage the Ills of Man & Beast (1961)
Map of Another Town (1964)
The Cooking of Provincial France (1968)
With Bold Knife and Fork (1969)
Among Friends (1971)
A Considerable Town (1978)
Not a Station but a Place (1979)
As They Were (1982)
Not Now, But Now (1982)
Sister Age (1983)
Here, Let us Feast (1986)
Dubious Honors (1988)
The Art of Eating (1990)
The Boss Dog (1991)
Long Ago in France: The Years in Dijon (1992)
To Begin Again, Stories and Memoirs (1992)
Stay Me, Oh Comfort Me (1993)
Last House: Reflections, Dreams and Observations (1995)
A Life in Letters: Correspondence 1929-1991 (1997)
Welcoming Life: The M.F.K. Fisher Scrapbook (1997)
Translations
The Physiology of Taste, or, Meditations on Transcendental Gastronomy, by Jean Antholme Brillat-Savarin (1949)
Fine Preserves: Jams & Jellies, Pickles & Relishes, Conserves & Chutneys & Brandied Fruits for City and Country Cooks, by Catherine Plagemann (1988)