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 Like
many another hard-core foodie, Betty Fussell came to the food world
by devious routes. A PhD in English Literature, years of teaching
Shakespeare and assorted classics, a passion for movies and movie
history, some prime time acting in plays and musical comedies, decades
of travel through foreign countries, raising two children, hundreds
of cats, and an ex-husband---none of these seems particularly suitable
for writing about food. But in fact her love of the world’s diversity
found a focus when she put together her typewriter with her stove.
Fussell is a writer who is also a home cook, one who loves the
sensuousness of words as much as the sensuality of foods. As a writer,
she sees food as a window into the culture, past and present, of
America. As an historian, she sees any meal as a way of eating history
on the plate. As a cook, she likes recipes that are simple, improvisatory,
fresh, and tasty, something anyone could do with no more than a
sharp knife and a skillet and a few good fresh ingredients. Her
many cookbooks reflect these interests, from her first Masters
of American Cookery (1984) to her most recent Home
Bistro (1997). She is best known for I
Hear America Cooking (1986 and 1997) and for the epic
history of the New World’s native grain, The
Story of Corn (1992), for which she won International
Association of Culinary Professional's Jane Grigson Award.
A long-time journalist of food and travel, her articles have appeared
in publications like The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times,
Holiday, Travel and Leisure, Cosmopolitan, Food Arts, Wine and Food,
Bon Appetit, Cooking Light, Ladies Home Journal, Lear’s, Country
Journal and Vogue. A frequent performer on television,
she is also a regular on the lecture platform at places as diverse
as the Art Museum of Princeton University and the Dutch Treat Club
of New York, with way stops at food organization conferences, marketplace
demos, historical fêtes, restaurant dinners---wherever good
food is eaten and people want to talk about it.
For
more articles by Betty Fussell, please visit our friends at Sally's
Place.
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Betty's Recipes
For a variety of recipes, we thought it would be fun
to take one recipe from each of the six regions Betty
covers in her book
I Hear America Cooking.
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Betty's Books Currently in Print
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