A Cordiall Water: A Garland of Odd and Old Receipts to Assuage the Ills of Man and Beast (Paperback)

~ (Author) "From the first it has been as puzzling for me as it is for most people to separate myth and religion from medical reality..." (more)
Key Phrases: Middle Ages

Editorial Reviews

Review

"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.

Product Description

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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Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Counterpoint (April 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593760299
• ISBN-13: 978-1593760298
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #631,515 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Literary Medicine, September 24, 1998

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.