Issue 41 / Spring 2011
41 / Food
A literary feast
This issue is a literary feast, full of new stories about food and our relationship to what we eat—from pork to lasagna, and from pomegranates to toasted grasshoppers.
Plus, Ruth Reichl talks about differences between men and women (in the kitchen and on the page) and how she’s turning her Twitter feed into a book; Phillip Lopate shares an uncomfortable secret about teaching creative writing; CNF Editor Lee Gutkind breaks out of the English Department; Robert Atwan examines an element of E. B. White’s style; and more.
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What’s the Story #41
I wanted to find a really cool place to meet Ruth Reichl for coffee. I mean, you just don’t meet one of the best food writers in the world at a Starbucks!ENCOUNTER: Ruth Reichl
Creative Nonfiction caught up with Ruth Reichl during a rare lull in her hectic schedule, which is usually jam-packed with a variety of creative projects and speaking engagements around the United States and abroad.The Intimacy of Forks
Your waitress knows you better than you know yourselfThe Dinner Party
An offering. Right. Who do you think you’re kidding? You’re a show off—that’s what you are.How to Fix Everything
First, there were the casseroles: strange combinations of chicken, canned chilies and potato chips, or green beans, cream of mushroom soup and fried potato sticks. Then there were the Jell-O salads, shaken out of greased Bundt pans and shimmering on cut-glass plates; some salads were clear and some creamy, some with celery or carrots and others with canned pineapple or fruit cocktail.Beefless
“Love your curves,” the poster reminds us in plump, curvy letters. At Curves, a gym for gym-resistant middle-aged women, we talk our way through a half-hour of interval training. The exercise machines are arranged in a circle, facing inward, and every 30 seconds, we switch machines.From Pig to Porkchop
It happened once that I can remember specifically, but it probably happened many, many more times during the long years of my childhood, as it’s probably happening right now in kitchens around the country.Behold a World
Fresh pomegranates! I stared at the proclamation scrawled on a board inside Minneapolis’ Red Owl grocery store. I’d dropped in for some essentials—milk, ground beef, juice and bread— but that sign veered me toward the produce section.Grasshopper Love
At Benito Juarez Market in Oaxaca, Mexico: Chiles. We find mountains of them fresh, molehills dried, cones of chile paste, mounds of mole—rojo, amarillo, negro, coloradito—heaped like papier-mâché volcanoes, the kind of lava you want to sauce your enchiladas with.Creative Nonfiction in the Age of the Expert
Recently, I got to poke fun at my boss in front of a crowd. I took some of his writing and pointed out how incredibly boring his prose was, how he went on and on, pontificating about a variety of subjects, offering ideas and theories in a way that totally went above the head of any reader who wasn’t already attuned to his way of thinking.The essay: exploration or argument? (Or, perhaps, both?)
Recently, I have been rethinking one of my basic positions regarding the essay. For years, I have been saying the essay is not a logical proof or legal brief: It does not have to persuade; what is important is to follow one’s thoughts, even if they lead to contradiction.WRITER AT WORK: E. B. White, A Note on “Death of a Pig”
In the personal essay—and autobiographical writing in general—truthful accounts and historical facts can be distorted in several ways.Family History Narrative
A little more than a decade ago, genealogists like me started to get the hang of nonfiction storytelling. This might not sound like a big deal, but it marked a significant change in the field: professional genealogy, after all, is dominated primarily by those of us who conduct research, provide clients with research reports and produce family tree charts.Of Birds, and of a Particular Pomological Fruit
Seed of magnetite tucked deep in the robin’s brain: built-in compass? Last night I dreamed a pear. The distinct flavor enraptured the sleeping mind. Pear. From the Latin pirum (plural, pira), source not known.Red Sauce
For an Italian, my father exhibited uncharacteristic restraint except for two occasions: any time he was watching football and whenever he cooked. Then, my father’s full emotional range would burst open like roasted garlic smashed under a knife to extract its pungent pulp.Now Here, Now There
I have two half-brothers who live on the East Coast, and when I was a kid, if they came home for the holidays, they would bring a Styrofoam cooler of oysters.Feeding the Muse
We’re sorry; we’re currently unable to make this work available online.Unforeseen Errors
"No handmade print is perfect. The errors usually add interest to the artwork and give it a lot of character."Picnic in the Democratic Forest
I came late to writing about food. As I settled in, I read a lot of A.J. Liebling, who, in “Between Meals,” savaged Proust and his prissy madeleine. Liebling declared a preference for “small birds, stewed rabbit and stuffed tripe,” and mused that taking into account what Proust “wrote with so mild a stimulus, it is the world’s loss that he did not have a heartier appetite.”