feel free to BS a personal story as long as it sounds good please 🙂
Essay Assignment #1 – Writing Description: Noticing the Flavors of Life – 650 Words (2-3 pages)
THE FOOD MEMOIR is becoming a new type of genre in the field of memoir and short versions are commonly published in Newspapers, Food Blogs & Gourmet Magazines (Some good examples can be found in the Resources File provided to on your Moodle page. To experiment writing in this form, start thinking about scenes in your life that have associations with flavors as part of the sensual portraits of memory. You will be surprised to see how these remembrances may lead to more complex reflections on culture or the nature of our relationship with In MFK Fisher’s Book The Gastronomical Me, the author observes, (and I paraphrase) when writing about food, one is really writing about larger ideas about love, community, culture and our need for connection.
All types of descriptive essays need to have a strong focal point to help in the conception and organization of descriptive details. Writers of short descriptive stories, memoirs or essays often refer to specific aromas, flavors and music as evocative tools to draw forth sense memories that provoke emotional responses from the reader. Strong sensory details work to amplify the meaning of your thesis which is that focal point or dominant impression that guides the organization of your piece. Also, remember that because your assignment has a narrow framework, to work on the technique of “freezing time” rather than plotting a long sequence of events in narrative form. Within reason, keep to the scope and expected length requirement of this assignment.
Some Possible Starting Points for Brainstorming your Topic:
• Stories of how you discovered the Joy of Cooking
• School Lunches
• Your experiences with Community or first backyard Vegetable Gardens
• A Review of Food Cart Cuisine and description of your experiments in trying new foods
• Holiday Memories – Making Cookies for Santa – Mother’s Day Breakfast – 4th of July picnic etc.
• Eating Gummy Worms – The dietary staples of Childhood and how they are connected to memory
• Your Recipe for Happiness and how it connects to the sensory pleasure of the culinary arts
• Stories of Food and its Connection to Culture
