May 2017
Food vs Words
Whether words are more important than food or vice versa — interesting stances about this have been taken. The following are a few examples. Bon appétit ! I. Food 1. Je vis de [...]
April 2017
Tea with a Spot of Gallic Flair
Tea being made into a French drink almost as if by the sheer attitude of the fashionable crowd— that is a notion suggested in a number of magazines and newspapers during the early 1900s in [...]
March 2017
Do Not . . .
Around 1512/1514 in France an illustrated manuscript seemingly made for the heir apparent to the crown shows a number of sayings that use food as a way to talk about morals. At the time, François [...]
February 2017
At the White House: Honoré Julien, Edith Hern Fossett, and Frances Gillette Hern
April 3, 1807 was a regular workday for the chef Honoré Julien (1760–1830) and his assistants Edith Hern Fossett (1787-1854) and Frances Gillette Hern (1788-after 1827), both of whom were enslaved. When they were preparing [...]
January 2017
“A Very Sweet Present: Moroccan Sugar Loaves” by Iziar de Miguel
In Morocco sugar loaves are offered on the occasion of a marriage proposal (two sugar loaves), weddings, births, or visits to persons celebrating their return from the pilgrimage to Mekka. It is said that sugar [...]
December 2016
Marmelade: La Fontaine, Zola, Verlaine, Sartre, Sand, Sade, Céline
Jam on bread can be comforting, routine, pleasant, appetizing, or too sweet. We step into different territory, however, when we look at the French word marmelade as it has been used in figurative ways by [...]