M.F.K. Fisher's "Once a Tramp, Always . . ."

 Food and Structure

As I grabbed a mug of frozen cool whip and fudge and with the longing of peanut butter on my mind, I sat down to read "Once a Tramp, Always . . ." by M.F.K. Fisher. Little did I know that it would be about food, cravings, and the memories that amazing and not so amazing food would bring about. I truly loved her anecdotes about mashed potatoes and Ketchup - one of my favorite dishes when I grew up - and even her description of her grandmother's awful "Boiled Dressing." All of her stories and even just knowledge about food not only enthralled me but definitely was a common experience that allowed her to break down the barrier between herself and her reader. Even though this was written at least 21 years ago or probably more, food is universal and allows the author to be intimate with the reader. This can be seen when she shares her description of the potatoes as "light, whipped to a firm cloud with rich hot milk, faintly yellow from ample butter." By that time, I could almost hear my stomach growling.

Still another technique that I found intriguing was her sentence structure and diction, which screams 19th and early 20th century longer sentences and almost academic words. The first sentence read "There is a mistaken idea, ancient but still with us, that an overdose of anything from fornication to hot chocolate will teach restraint by the very results of its abuse," and there she intrigues the reader with a very blunt statement. Personally this style reminds me of Jane Austen and how she begins all of her novels with an intriguing and possibly true statement. The most famous of these would have been "It is a truth universally acknowledged . . ." Fisher continues this academic but blunt and witty language throughout the piece. She defines cravings as "the actual and continued need for something" while she also informs the reader that in place of beauty, "gastronomy serves as a kind of surrogate, to ease our longings." All of this seems archaic yet comfortable writing, her tone intelligent and conversational. Throughout the piece, she then educates the reader while still enthralling them.