Oldies But Goodies -- Alice, Let's Eat & Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

Only recently did I get around to reading Calvin Trillin's Alice, Let's Eat and Annie Dillard's Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. The book by Trillin, who still writes for The New Yorker, was published in 1978, four years after Dillard's collection of nature essays came out.

Both authors were ahead of their time. The TV Food Network didn't exist. And except for the likes of Julia Child, food writing wasn't the big seller it is now when Trillin wrote of his adventures as a "Happy Eater" -- adventures that took him from Paris to Kansas City.

When Dillard's book was published, DDT was fortunately a thing of the past, albeit only recently, and global warming wasn't even a part of our vocabulary yet. It would be a long time before Americans once again focused on nature, from tiny insects to tall mountains. But Dillard was already there with the essays in her Pulitzer Prize-winning book -- works that explores such oddities as the sex life of a praying mantis, the eating habits of a honey-loving wasp and the art of a snowflake.

I liked Dillard's book but found it tedious at times.

Trillin's writing, however, is a fast and light read. His humor is self-effacing. And while he loves a good soupe de poissons de roche, rouille et croutons dores and knows what all that boils down to (fish soup), he also appreciates good barbecue, scrapple, country ham and my personal favorite: red-eye gravy. But what most shines through in this pre-Food Network book is the one thing that clearly supercedes Trillin's love of a good meal -- his wife Alice. ... But then again, she never made him choose.