First published in 1961, A Cordiall Water collects a charming mixed bag of nostrums, elixirs, restoratives, and fortifiers and intersperses them with autobiographical anecdotes from M. F. K. Fisher’s life in California, Provence, Mexico and Switzerland. These engaging recipes, “a perfect combination of superstition, instinct, and primitive knowledge” deal with commonplace ailments—sore throats, cures for cats, aging skin, fevers, PMS and hangovers. Ingredients of these extraordinary receipts are transformed into cures and preventatives told in the inimitable style of this master of the finely observed life.
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"I do not know of any one in the United States who writes better prose." -- W.H. Auden
"M.F.K. Fisher ... brings onstage a peach or a brace of quail and shows us history, cities, fantasies, memories, emotions." -- Patricia Storace, The New York Review of Books
"M.F.K. Fisher is our greatest food writer because she puts food in the mount, the mind and the imagination all at the same time. Beyond the gastronomical bravura, she is a passionate woman; food is her metaphor." -- Shana Alexander
"Poet of the appetites." -- John Updike
"She writes about fleeting tastes and feasts vividly, excitingly, sensuously, exquisitely. There is almost a wicked thrill in following her uninhibited track through the glories of the good life." -- James Beard
"She writes about food as others do about love, but rather better." -- Clifton Fadiman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
"M.F.K. Fisher ... brings onstage a peach or a brace of quail and shows us history, cities, fantasies, memories, emotions." -- Patricia Storace, The New York Review of Books
"M.F.K. Fisher is our greatest food writer because she puts food in the mount, the mind and the imagination all at the same time. Beyond the gastronomical bravura, she is a passionate woman; food is her metaphor." -- Shana Alexander
"Poet of the appetites." -- John Updike
"She writes about fleeting tastes and feasts vividly, excitingly, sensuously, exquisitely. There is almost a wicked thrill in following her uninhibited track through the glories of the good life." -- James Beard
"She writes about food as others do about love, but rather better." -- Clifton Fadiman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
M.F.K. Fisher was born in Albion, Michigan, on July 3, 1908. She is the author of numerous books, many of which have become American classics. She died in 1992.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Literary Medicine,
By A Customer
This review is from: A Cordiall Water: A Garland of Odd and Old Receipts to Assuage the Ills of Man and Beast (Paperback)
With her distinct voice, M.F.K. Fisher discusses the medical, cultural, social, and emotional attributes of traditional folk remedies and medical treatments. This small, gentle book is a "must" read for those interested in new age, herbal, and alternative treatment for maladies, illnesses, and the physical and mental stresses of contemporary society. It could be effectively argued that this book is a classic in the way it discusses our reliance, and more effective usage, of plants, elixers, and other "cordial waters" to enhance our sense of wholeness.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
To your health,
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This review is from: A Cordiall Water: A Garland of Odd and Old Receipts to Assuage the Ills of Man and Beast (Paperback)
MFK Fisher is such a marvelous author, my advice to anyone even halfway interested in cooking is to read everything she ever wrote. This book is different in the sense that it has `receipts' to cure ills. There is much that would be of interest to anyone fascinated in natural remedies and medicine.
Fisher describes many cures in short little chapters from how to treat a cold, (lemonade, or brandy, or sage leaves, or onions) to how to cure a hangover. There is advice in each chapter and her thoughts are integrated, including those on the perils of obesity and the fad dieting to cure it, or to avoid it. You have to remember this is a reissue, written originally in 1961. I appreciated Fisher's updated preface in 1980. She died in 1992. This truly is an interesting little book, one many would find worthy of note, both to read and maybe to even attempt some of the tried and true folk remedies.
5.0 out of 5 stars
M F K Fisher,
This review is from: A Cordial Water: A Garland of Odd and Old Receipts to Assuage the Ills of Man and Beast (Hardcover)
You do not need a purpose to read Fisher. Her prose is great good fun in itself. I enjoy her clean simple prose with a sly bit of wit mixed in.
I would suggest another of her books Long Ago in France. a great memoir.
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From the first it has been as puzzling for me as it is for most people to separate myth and religion from medical reality. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
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From the first it has been as puzzling for me as it is for most people to separate myth and religion from medical reality. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Middle Ages New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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This book cites 21
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cites this book:
- A Cordiall Water: A Garland of Odd and Old Receipts to Assuage the Ills of Man and Beast by M. F. K. Fisher on 4 pages
- The Physiology of Taste: Or Meditations on Transcendental Gastronomy by M. F. K. Fisher on 4 pages
- A Considerable Town by M. F. K. Fisher in Front Matter
- Sister Age by M.F.K. Fisher in Front Matter
- To Begin Again by M.F.K. Fisher in Front Matter
See all 21 books this book cites
- Among Friends by M. F. K. Fisher in Front Matter
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