Food Lit. and MacBooks

I apologize for writing two posts in a row without recipes. I promise to post my new favorites, Almond Blueberry Cookies and Mexican Chocolate Bundt Cake, very soon. But right now, I am sitting at my parents' house, sans recipes, but with a gorgeous brand-new MacBook Pro that I just have to play with. I wish I could say it was mine, but unfortunately, no. My my father is being quite generous and trusting, and this keyboard feels like silk, so I apologize if this post is long. I can barely tear myself away.

I've been thinking a lot about food literature recently. I just finished teaching a writing class using Kingsolver's newest and Anthony Bourdain's Nasty Bits as primary texts. (We were supposed to read Anne Tyler's Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, but we had some bookstore trouble. As in they never ordered it.) My students overall really seemed to like it, though since we were using it to discuss writing, we had to talk more about structure and less about content than I would have liked. They were incredibly useful texts for a writing class--I think I may use them again for 101 this fall. But what else is out there? Most bookstores don't have food lit. sections (yet) but so many books exist that can be categorized like this: Frances Mayes' Under the Tuscan Sun is probably the most famous, but Ferenc Mate and Elizabeth Romer have written other novels/travelogues that are well-reviewed, as have many others. You could really do a great study of place-based writing if we looked at how often food lit. and travel lit. are conflated.

The thing is, while I want to read them all, I also want to make sure there is some distance between pleasure reading and school reading. But should there be? I pick a subject to study because I enjoy it. I love to read about food, but I don't ever want to dislike reading about food, which makes me want to limit my exposure to food lit.

And then of course, we also get into the "But is it good literature?" question that I hate but still feel compelled to ask. "For its genre, is it good?" is my usual solution. I mean, no, it may not be Moby Dick (which has so much about food, it's unbelievable!) but no one's asking for the mythical Great American Novel here--especially if it's set in Tuscany, where my recent obsession often finds me. And that very same "great" novel would not be good in a different genre, either. Don't let ridiculous "good v. bad lit." evaluations stop you from reading something you may enjoy. And I suppose I shouldn't let the fear that I might get tired of a genre stop me from reading it, either. It's always evolving and growing, and I'd rather enjoy myself right now instead of measuring out that enjoyment coffee spoons (reference, anyone?).

So my reading list for the summer will be the books I listed above--anything about vineyards, pasta, or torta della nonna. Maybe I'll move on to NOLA food lit. soon. Thanks for working this out with me.

Here's a recipe, for good measure:

6 frozen whole strawberries
1/2 small container low-fat strawberry yogurt
1/2 banana
splash OJ

Put all ingredients in a blender and puree. Drink your smoothie along with a piece of Sweet Vanilla Challah, toasted.