Granta 52: Food: The Vital Stuff

Granta: The Magazine of New Writing #52

by Ian Jack (Editor)

Food as indulgence, certainly, but also food as a taboo, a cruelty, a desperate need, a failed sex aid, and a means of making a living. Including Graham Swift on the life and death of a butcher, J. M. Coetzee’s attempt at vegetarianism in Texas, Giles Foden at Idi Amin’s dinner table, and Sean French on the delights of Icelandic cuisine (including roast puffin and whale sushi). Plus: Georges Perec, Romesh Gunesekera, John Lanchester, Jane Rogers, Margaret Visser and Joan Smith.

Genres: Food, Anthologies, Fiction, Photography

252 pages, Paperback

First published October 25, 1995

About the author

Ian Jack is a British journalist and writer who has edited the Independent on Sunday and the literary magazine Granta and now writes regularly for The Guardian.

Reviews

[Benjamin Little · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic collection of food history, theory, and aesthetic. I am drawn to the format of Granta, so perhaps I am predisposed to enjoy this, but I read every word of this edition. This is an excellent bit of non-technical food writing that would work well as an adjunct to traditional education in food or, perhaps, anthropology.

A fine collection of stories and essays.

[Amberwitch · Rating 2 out of 5]

An anthology of fiction and non fiction pieces and excerpts centering around food, cooking and eating. Several pieces contain recipes, although not any I would attempt to follow.
Very much an artefact of its time (the mid-nineties) and with a majority of male contributors, and a prevailing tone of superiority and self satisfaction I am reminded of a certain, once ubiquitous, male dominated, intellectual style that I am grateful has mostly disappeared - or at least is no longer represented in my library.

[Angela Jeffs · Rating 4 out of 5]

I quoted a paragraph from this in my book Household Stories/Katei Monogatari. Credited, of course.

I bought GRANTA for years, but at some point during my 26 years in Japan, fell off the subscription list. I think in retrospect I was simply running out of bookshelf room and lapsed... rather regret it now.

[Phyllis]

excellent black and white photos of vegetables.