The celebrated author of such books as The Art of Eating, The Cooking of Provincial France, and With Bold Knife and Fork, Fisher knows how to prepare a feast of reading as no other. Excerpting descriptions of bountiful meals from classic works of British and American literature, Fisher weaves them into a profound discussion of feasting.

She also traces gluttony through the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, and claims that the story of a nation's life is charted by its gastronomy. M.F.K. Fisher has arranged everything perfectly, and the result is a succession of unforgettable courses that will entice the most reluctant epicure.

Table of Contents

THE FEAST OF KNOWLEDGExi
THE BOOK AND THE FLEAxiii
I.IN THE BEGINNING: The Bible3
II.GLORIOUS DESCENDANTS: China11
III.HUNGRY FOR PHOENIX-EGGS: The Adventurers34
IV.THE PEACOCK'S PLUME: Egypt, Greece, Rome ONE 52
V.MAN'S MEAT: Cannibals and Poisoners80
VI.PARFIT GENTIL KNIGHTS: The Middle Ages89
VII.NOBLE AND ENOUGH: The Renaissance103
VIII.VANITY FAIR: Eighteenth- and Nineteenth- Century England118
IX.A CONFUSION OF TONGUES: Russia, France, Germany, and England174
X.THIS NOBLE FLUMMERY: Fantasy243
XI.O PIONEERS! America270