Josh Dissects Food Writing
...starting with Mrs. Fisher.
Researching Elizabeth David led me to a savage article by Joshua Ozersky. It’s called Consider the Food Writer in which he takes down M.F.K. Fisher and nearly every other food writer you can think of, past and present. Ozersky, who died in 2015 while attending a James Beard award ceremony, was well placed for the work. He had a slew of critically acclaimed books and essays under his belt. He was also the founder of Meatopia, an annual event where all things meat are worshipped and devoured. His outspoken, always erudite opinions about every facet of the food world were both loved and loathed but never ignored.
Consider the Food Writer is a perfect example. It is a terrifically insightful piece about the development of modern food writing and what he feels is so wrong with it, especially because of the editors, publishers who cling to the aura osurrounding Fisher and the demands of getting noticed on-line. One could say it was a strange subject for Ozersky to bite into considering his standing as a very successful food writer. But this is one of the admirable things about him. He never spared himself or anyone else.
This is all I’ll say about Ozersky’s article. I’d love to hear what you think.
(Warning: this video is an advance course in what it was like to roam around eating with Ozersky.)
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Oh the grilling is a sight you'll never forget
The piece by Josh Ozersky does resonate with me, though Substack has made it possible for some of us home cooks/writers to get read and paid (so far I don’t charge, maybe because I never feel like I’m part of this exclusive club). I picked up MFK Fisher’s “How to Cook a Wolf” early in the pandemic and was really disappointed in the recipes and the observations. The world of food writing does seem to be a bit of an exclusive club. This statement struck home: “Write anything you want on your blog or your Tumblr; nobody will hear of you, and you won’t see a penny, until some important person in the magazine world knows your name.”