Essay: Once a Tramp, Always...(Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher)

This essay by M.F.K Fisher on food and food memories is so well-written that I feel as though I am tasting, seeing, and smelling all that she describes - such is the power of writers with great descriptive abilities. The essay is about her memories of certain favorite foods (and not so favorite foods), and focuses mainly on the eating experience itself, relating the experience occasionally to a larger, universal theme but only lightly so, and ultimately returning to her central subject - the food. In this essay, Fisher savors, fantasizes, and loves food; she somehow uses the eating experience to express the essence of human passion. She even admits in the essay that she often substitutes food fantasies for romantic ones. Though this essay is about food memories of the past there is a sensual and fantastic element to all her descriptions: "There is, in this happily insatiable fantasizing, no saturation point, no moment at which the body must cry: Help!" She notes that what makes fantasy so magical is the unattainable yet possible nature of this idle pastime. Afterall this is not so much an essay about eating as it is about the idea of eating.

I read this essay twice: first for enjoyment and second to study her writing. Descriptive writing can often turn into a list of adjectives (at least mine does), yet Fisher keeps her prose fresh and interesting despite getting into much descriptive detail. She does this by describing the context of the food memory, describing the food physically, and then describing her emotional response to the food. In fully exploring all angles of her food descriptions, she fills out the experience for the reader.

"My father and I ate caviar, probably Sevruga, with green-black smallish beads and a superb challenge of flavor for the iced grassy vodka we used to cleanse our happy palates. We ate three portions apiece, tacitly knowing it could never happen again that anything would be quite so mysteriously perfect in both time and space."

Her language is a joy to read. Throughout the essay she uses a combination of complex and short sentences to produce a smooth and pleasant cadence in her writing. An example of such a pairing is as follows:

"At least three people I know very well, children of alcoholic parents,where literally born drunk, and after sad experience they face the hideous fact that one more nip will destroy them. [Complex sentence full of phrases to describe her subject matter] But they dream of it. [Simple direct sentence to drive home the point]"

Another sentence I admire, particularly for the interesting use of syntax:

"They are, although in a noble way, cheating: an honest satyr will risk death from exhaustion, still happily aware that there will always be more women in the world than he can possible accommodate."

She employs several literary techniques effortlessly to create her imagery including simile, metaphor, and varied diction. Yet nothing about her writing seems forced; the form, words, and tone are natural and conversational despite containing a high-degree of literary skill. Very admirable and a delight to read.

"That was a fine introduction to what I hope is a reasonably long life of such occasional bliss."

Once a Tramp, Always...