Food writer Marion Cunningham, author of such seminal cookbooks as The Fannie Farmer Cookbook and Learning to Cook died Wednesday at the age of 90. Ms. Cunningham was an unrelenting champion of home cooking and sharing food together around the table, which is evident in the following memorable quotes:
Home cooking is a catalyst that brings people together. We are losing the daily ritual of sitting down around the table (without the intrusion of television), of having the opportunity to interact, to share our experiences and concerns, to listen to others. Home kitchens, despite the increase in designer appliances and cabinetry, are mostly quiet and empty today. Strangers are preparing much of our food. And our supermarkets, which once considered restaurants and fast-food places the enemy, have joined the trend by enlarging their delis and offering ready-to-eat food they call "home-replacement meals." But bringing ready-cooked meals home is not the same as cooking in your own kitchen, where you are in control of the ingredients you use, where you fill the house with good cooking smells, and where you all share in a single dish, taking a helping and passing the platter on to your neighbor. Nothing can replace that.
-From the introduction to Lost Recipes
Too many families seldom sit down together; it's gobble and go, eating food on the run, reheating it in relays in the microwave as one dashes off to a committee meeting, another to basketball practice. As a result we are losing an important value. Food is more than fodder. It is an act of giving and receiving because the experience at table is a communal sharing; talk begins to flow, feelings are expressed, and a sense of well-being takes over.
- From the preface to The Fannie Farmer Cookbook
Eating food that strangers cook is vastly different than eating what's cooked at home. The real key is sharing food at that table and, believe me, we know we're not born civilized. We're small savages, so you have to be taught the table is the place where you learn who you are and where you're from, understanding that a lot of people just do nothing but fight at the table. Nonetheless, you come to know one another. The result is you know who you are.
-From the 1996 PBS show, "Baking With Julia"
Did you learn to cook with one of Marion Cunningham's cookbooks, or do you cherish a particular recipe?
Related: Cookbook Classic: The Breakfast Book by Marion Cunningham
(Image: Ben Margot/AP via People)
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Aww... RIP Ms Cunningham. I was just using The Fannie Farmer Baking Book a few days ago, and was marvelling at how her recipes are really what I used to learn to bake growing up. My mom used her FF Cookbook for EVERYTHING. I remember staying home alone as a 12 year old kid for the first time and making the recipe for Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies from the book and surprising mom and dad when they got home! Marion Cunningham will always live on in my kitchen!
Her oatmeal pancakes are my go-to recipe for Sunday mornings.
SAD! :( Lost Recipes is a favorite. I will have to go reread it in her honor. And maybe make her Lazy Daisy Cake.
I make her James Beard's Cream Biscuits all the time. So much so that the book binding is coming apart. Loved her writing.
I got my own copy of Fannie Farmer Cookbook for Christmas last year. My mom has always had one, so now that I'm all grown up and married it was a great gift that made me smile. The chocolate cream pie alone is worth the purchase.
The Fannie Farmer Cookbook is my absolute favorite. If I could chose just one cookbook to own or gift, that would be it. I also enjoy her Supper Book.
My first cookbook was Learning to Cook With Marion Cunningham. I still give it to all the new graduates that I know. She kept everything delicious, straightforward and simple.