The Gastronomical Me

The sentimental and culinary education of M.F.K. Fisher.

In 1929, a newly married M.F.K. Fisher embarked on a journey that would change her life. In The Gastronomical Me, readers get a firsthand look at the travels that formed the culinary education of one of our greatest modern food writers. As the twenty-one-year-old Fisher and her husband made their way through France—and then much farther afield—a whole new world of flavors and experiences opened up to her. Her account of the meals she shared and the eccentric characters she met along the way unfolds against the backdrop of mounting pre-war tensions and her own growing awareness of how food would soon become her life’s work. In these profound, deeply observed reports from her first forays into the world, Fisher created a foundational modern story of travel, food, and self-discovery that influences and inspires readers and writers alike even today.