Synopses & Reviews
This delightful collection of essays, reminiscences, and commentary takes us on a metaphorical tour of the American psyche. Food is basic not only to our survival, but also to our soul, as these recollections of eating delightfully demonstrate. Paul Auster recalls the onion tart that looked like his last meal in Provence and Lee Smith the "lady food" of her mother's bridge club, Jill McCorkle confesses to junk food addiction and Lorrie Moore to take-out Chinese on Christmas. Whether by gourmets or gourmands, a "picky eater" or a "nongourmet", those blessed with a heritage of taste or those with a white-bread tradition, the essays of We Are What We Ate tell about the spiritual substance of the sustenance in our lives.
We Are What We Ate benefits Share Our Strength, the nation's preeminent organization fighting hunger. It will be published to coincide with SOS's annual Writers Harvest National Reading, a nationwide benefit to be held on October 29, 1998, during which over 1,000 writers read their work at bookstores and on college campuses across the country.
Synopsis
From Paul Auster on a Provençal onion tart to Lorrie Moore on a Chinese take-out Christmas dinner, these delectable essays by well-known american writers explore the meaning of food in our lives and our culture. With contributions by Julia Alvarez, Madison Smartt Bell, Gish Jen, Bobby Ann Mason, Richard Russo, Lee Smith, and many others.
About the Author
Mark Winegardner is the author of the novel The Veracruz Blues and three books of nonfiction. A regular contributor to GQ, he has also published work in the New York Times Magazine, Playboy, Esquire, Ploughshares, TriQuarterly, Doubletake, and other magazines. He is a professor of English and director of the Creative Writing Program at Florida State University in Tallahassee, where he lives with his wife and daughter.