Sally Stockhold

An exceptional lunch served by Madame E. Saint-Ange to M.F.K. Fisher and a surprise guest, Pom-Pom, somewhere in the south of France, 1949

From “myselfportraits, ode to icons” Series
Hand-colored archival pigment print
Edition of 6 + 2 APs
Sally Stockhold © 2008

Mme. Evelyn Saint-Ange (1880–1955?) Little is known about Saint-Ange. She was French, a chef, wrote a newspaper column on cooking and was said to have had an imperious nature. Her extraordinary accomplishment was her 1927 magnum opus on French cooking, La Bonne Cuisine de Madame E. Saint-Ange. Bursting with 1300 recipes, the book is considered a classic of French cooking and inspired Julia Child. Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher (1908–1992) A preeminent American writer. Her books are an amalgam of food literature, travel and memoir. Fisher believed that eating well was one of the premier “arts of life.” W.H. Auden remarked: “I do not know of anyone in the United States who writes better prose.” One can imagine that Saint-Ange and Fisher might have met and that St. Ange would have invited Fisher to her country home to taste some of her recipes. And of course dogs are always welcome to dine “at table” in France, as that is the custom!

Next photograph