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The New Yorker notes the passing of Alice Trillin. If you have never read The Tummy Trilogy this would be a great time to pick it up. Calvin Trillin is one of the great food writers of all time, and his books are funny and delightful. If you like Peter Mayle, or MFK Fisher, or if you just love food, read them. We all need as much joy as we can get into our lives right now.
"ME: Anybody who served a milkshake like this in Kansas City would be put in jail.
ALICE: You promised not to indulge in any of that hometown nostalgia while I'm eating. You know it gives me indigestion.
ME: What nostalgia? Facts are facts. The kind of milkshake that I personally consumed six hundred gallons of at the Country Club Daily is an historical fact in three flavors. Your indigestion is not from listening to my fair-minded remarks on the food of a particular American city. It's from drinking that gray skim milk this bandit is trying to pass off as a milkshake. "
Alice was Calvin's muse, his cohort in crime, a funny and amazing lady if the books don't lie, and I think their adventures in cuisine will be a model for my own marriage.
Good bye Alice, and thanks for all the meals.
excerpt from "Travels with Alice"
Salon Interview with Calvin Trillin
Ironically in this month's (Gourmet magazine - October2001) starts its 60th anniversary edition with a note from the editor reminding the readers that Gourmet started during war-time in 1941. This introduction reminds the reader that looking outside our borders for the great gifts of other cultures can only enhance our own. In 1941 the launch of a magazine encouraging folks to enjoy and better appreciate the world around themselves was an affront to some who felt we should be somber, but it was also embraced by many that found it a portal to not only enjoyment but understanding. What was helpful in 1941 is ironically helpful and apropos today.