M. F. K. Fisher
| M F K Fisher | |
|---|---|
| Born | Mary Frances Kennedy July 3, 1908 Albion, Michigan, USA |
| Died | June 22, 1992 (aged 83) Glen Ellen, California |
| Pen name | Victoria Berne (shared) |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Nationality | American |
| Genre | Novel (as Berne) |
| Subject | Food, travel, memoir |
| Spouse | Alfred Young Fisher Dillwyn Parrish Donald Friede |
| Children | Anna, Mary |
Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher (July 3, 1908 – June 22, 1992) was a preeminent American food writer. She was also a founder of the Napa Valley Wine Library. She wrote some 27 books, including a translation of The Physiology of Taste by Brillat-Savarin. Two volumes of her journals and correspondence came out shortly before her death in 1992. Her first book, Serve it Forth, was published in 1937. Her books are an amalgam of food literature, travel and memoir. Fisher believed that eating well was just one of the "arts of life" and explored this in her writing. W. H. Auden once remarked, "I do not know of anyone in the United States who writes better prose."
Fisher was born Mary Frances Kennedy on July 3, 1908 at 202 Irwin Avenue, Albion, Michigan. She told Albion City Historian, Frank Passic:
"I ... was delivered at home by "Doc" George Hafford, a man my parents Rex and Edith Kennedy were devoted to. Rex was then one of the volunteer firemen, and since I was born in a heatwave, he persuaded his pals to come several times and spray the walls of the house. My father Rex was sure I would be born on July 4, and he wanted to name me Independencia. My mother Edith was firmly against this completely un-Irish notion, and induced Doc Hafford to hurry things up a bit, in common pity."
Rex was a co-owner (with his brother Walter) and editor of the Albion Evening Recorder newspaper.
In 1911, Rex sold his interest in the paper to his brother, and moved the family to the West Coast, where he hoped to buy a fruit or citrus orchard. The family spent some time in Washington with relatives, and then traveled down the coast to Ventura, California, where Rex nearly purchased an orange grove, but backed out after discovering soil problems. He next purchased and briefly owned the Oxnard Courier in Oxnard, California. From there he traveled to San Diego, California, and worked for a local newspaper. In 1912 he purchased a controlling interest in the Whittier News and moved the family to Whittier, California. Rex initially purchased a house at 115 Painter Avenue. In 1919, he purchased a large white house outside the city limits on South Painter Avenue. The house sat on thirteen acres, with an orange grove; it was referred to by the family as "The Ranch." Although Whittier was primarily a Quaker community at that time, Mary Frances was brought up within the Episcopal Church.
Mary received a formal education; however, she was an indifferent student who often skipped classes throughout her academic career. At the age of sixteen, her parents enrolled her in a private school: The Bishop's School located in La Jolla, California. After one year there, she transferred to Harker's School For Girls in Palo Alto, California, adjacent to Stanford University; she graduated from Harker's in 1927. Upon graduation, she attended Illinois College, but left after only one semester, In 1928, she enrolled in summer school at UCLA in order to obtain enough credits to transfer to Occidental College. While there, she met and fell in love with her future first husband: Alfred Fisher ("Al"). She attended Occidental College for one year; however, she married Al on September 5, 1929, and moved with him to Dijon, France.
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