M.F.K Fisher’s autobiographical gastronomical writing is sadder than a book “about food” needs to be. It’s not just about significant European potato chips or midnight caviar and gin; it’s about people and places that are gone. She prepares you for this in the preface of course, but still, must a potato chip be twinged with nostalgia?

Yes, depending on the chip. Meals, and the circumstances surrounding them, are ephemeral, and so eating is about more than food.  What we eat, how, and with whom, is worthy of thoughtful consideration. To stir emotion when we remember a wonderful meal and miss the company. To be savored. To be enjoyed now. 

Strawberry Jam

I really set it up for chips, didn’t I ?

“The first thing I remember tasting and then wanting to taste again is the greyish-pink fuzz my grandmother skimmed from a spitting kettle of strawberry jam.”

Ingredients:

1 lb strawberries

A heaping ¼ cup sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon chia seeds.

Directions

Mix washed and cut strawberries with sugar. Really, you could stop here, and once they’ve sat a bit you’ll have a perfectly delicious strawberry topping.

If you continue on to jam, add a tablespoon lemon juice, and heat in a pot on low. 

Bring to a boil and mash the strawberries as they soften. Let the jam thicken.

I’ve recently decided I like when a jam has some seeds, and chia seeds also help thicken the jam, so when it’s nearly there, add the chia seeds to finish the job.

Spread it on a nice bread or biscuit. Imagine being in Dijon, or Switzerland with your lover.  If you already are, nice! If not, eat it wherever you are.