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17 - Food and the Essay

from Part II - The Great Age of the British Essay

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 October 2024

By
Amy L. Tigner
Edited by
Denise Gigante  and
Jason Childs
Denise Gigante
Affiliation:
Stanford University, California
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Summary

From the outset, food and the essay have shared a kinship, given that one of the original senses of the word ‘essai’ meant the ritual of tasting the French king’s food and drink. From metaphor to content, food has permeated the essay form; in turn, the essay became the vehicle for the emerging field of gastronomy. This chapter constellates several important moments of interaction between literal and literary taste, consumption and appetite, cultural criticism and culinary knowledge in essays by Michel Montaigne, Alexandre-Balthazar-Laurent Grimod de La Reynière, Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, William Kitchiner, Launcelot Sturgeon, Charles Lamb, William Makepeace Thackeray, and Elizabeth Robins Pennell. As cosmopolitan practices of discretionary dining became more widespread, these gastronomic essayistic writers often satirised the burgeoning bourgeoisie and their cultural milieu. Given its flexibility, the essay remains paramount to food writing, in its many forms and genres.

Keywords

EpicureanismfoodgastronomyrecipessatiretasteGrimodCharles LambsnobElizabeth Robins Pennell
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge History of the British Essay , pp. 246 - 259
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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