M.F.K. Fisher was a food blogger long before the term existed.
Although the legendary author wrote about food back in the 1930s and '40s, her descriptive prose captures memories of eating in the way that so many food bloggers try to do today, according to Anne Zimmerman, a Utah native who has chronicled Fisher's life in a new book, "An Extravagant Hunger: The Passionate years of M.F.K. Fisher" (Counterpoint, $26).
Zimmerman will discuss her book and sign copies at The King's English Bookshop, 1511 S. 1500 East, on Saturday at 7 p.m.
In a telephone interview, Zimmerman said that Fisher's writings included such reflections as "A memory of eating a peach pie with her father, or a fried egg with the nanny who took care of her. It's very much what I see people doing with blogs today, making it very intimate and personal."
I read Zimmerman's book with a lot of curiosity. Just about every food writer is acquainted with Fisher's works. But I feel even more of a kinship, since I've served three times as a judge for the M.F.K. Fisher Award for Culinary Writing, sponsored by Les Dames d'Escoffier International. Instead of straight news reporting, Fisher had a distinctive "voice." She also engaged the senses, so you could almost see, feel, taste or smell the dishes she wrote about in her books, such as "Serve it Forth," "Consider the Oyster," "How to Cook a Wolf" and "The Gastronomical Me."
Zimmerman says that Fisher's hunger wasn't just for food, but for love.
"Her desire for food, for love and for attention of any kind was relentless," writes Zimmerman, who chronicled Fisher's appetites, both professional and private, by researching private papers and correspondence. "Food helped her understand the world."
Fisher herself wrote, "It seems to me that our three basic needs, for food and security and love, are so mixed and mingled and entwined that we cannot straightly think of one without the others. So it happens that when I write of hunger, I am really writing about love and the hunger for it, and warmth and the love of it and the hunger for it … and then the warmth and richness and fine reality of hunger satisfied … and it is all one."
Her life story reads almost like a soap opera. Mary Frances Kennedy came from a privileged background, the daughter of a newspaper owner. Her domineering grandmother's repressive attitude about food prompted Mary Frances to savor and remember the rare bite of a chocolate frosted birthday cake or fresh fruit dripping with sun-kissed juice. After a brief courtship, she married school teacher Alfred Young Fisher, and the couple spent their first years of marriage in France while Alfred studied at the University of Dijon. French cuisine was an enjoyable discovery, but her husband's aloofness was not. Zimmerman writes that the two were mismatched from the start.
A chance meeting with another couple, Gigi and Dillwyn "Tim" Parrish, led first to friendship, then an affair between Dillwyn and Mary Frances, and finally, divorce.
Mary Frances married Parrish, but their happiness was short-lived. He developed blood clots, and his leg had to be amputated. From then on, he endured agonizing pain. The only relief came from injections of Analgeticum, a drug sold only in Europe.
As World War II broke out, the duo traveled to Europe to bring home a stockpile of Analgeticum. Parrish felt his days were numbered; once his supply of painkiller ran out, there was no way to get more from war-torn Europe. In 1941, he took his own life.
With her great love gone, Mary Frances continued to live a turbulent life. She worked in Hollywood, writing gags for Bob Hope and other comedians. She lived for a while in Mexico, where her brother David committed suicide. She had a baby out of wedlock, married again and divorced. And through it all, she ate and wrote about what she ate.
Unlike Julia Child, Mary Frances was less of a "cook" and more of an "eater."
"If you want to cook French cuisine, go to Julia Child, but if you want something to read afterward, get M.F.K. Fisher," said Zimmerman.
A graduate of Judge Memorial High School, Zimmerman holds a bachelor of arts from from Linfield College and an master of arts from San Diego State. She now lives in San Francisco and works in public relations and marketing.
She said she discovered M.F.K. Fisher's writing during an unhappy period while studying at San Diego State. "She struck a chord with me and made me realize that nourishing myself in those tough times when I felt alone was going to help me make it. I think it's still very relevant message, that it's important to take care of yourself; and the food you put in your body is a huge way to take care of yourself."
e-mail: vphillips@desnews.com