The Spouter-Inn

20b. Bonus: Irina Dumitrescu on Food Writing.


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I’m actually not that interested in food writing that’s primarily about food.

I love food, but...

Irina Dumitrescu is a professor of

medieval literature at the University of Bonn, but she also has a secret life
as a food essayist. She is particularly interested in how food reflects
culture, how people use craft and creativity to survive hard times, and the
positive uses of imperfection. Her essays on food have been nominated for the
James Beard Foundation’s M.F.K. Fisher Distinguished Writing Award, and been
reprinted in Best American Essays 2016, Best Food
Writing 2017, and Jay McInerney’s Wine Reads: A
Literary Anthology of Wine Writing (2018). She joins
us to talk about food writing and amateurs, the allure of survivalism, and
food writing that isn’t really about food.

Show Notes.

Irina Dumitrescu’s website, including links to

her essays My Father and the
Wine and
Currywurst.

The New Braunfels Wurstfest.

Najmieh Batmanglij: Food of Life: Ancient Persian and Modern Iranian Cooking

and Ceremonies.

Rose Levy Berenbaum: The Cake Bible. (Chris points

out that her Pie and Pastry Bible and Bread
Bible are both great.)

Mark Bittman: How to Cook Everything.

Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg: The Flavor Bible.

Chris first heard of Thermomix through The Katering

Show.

John Thorne: Serious Pig. (Based on articles from

his newsletter.)

Dawn Drzal: The Bread and the Knife. (Irina’s

review.)

Anthony Bourdain: Medium Raw and Kitchen

Confidential.

Emmymadeinjapan’s YouTube series on Hard

Times
cooking.

See also Great Depression

Cooking.

Lizzie Collingham: Curry.

Abe Opincar: Fried Butter.

Fuchsia Dunlop: Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper.

Laurie Colwin: Home Cooking.

Support The Spouter-Inn on Patreon and join

us on a members-only Slack where we can share recipes.

...more
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The Spouter-InnBy Suzanne Conklin Akbari and Chris Piuma

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