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Molly Hannon

It is hard to separate why I eat from why I write. So, I write about food. However, I don’t write mainly about taste, recipes, or the art of fine dining. It’s all good fun but the stories behind the food, the places it inhabits and the people who make it and eat it appeal more to my taste buds. To me, they are food’s secret ingredients. If you need a recipe for a big dinner party tonight or a quick and comforting meal, there are plenty of food blogs out there that can satisfy your cause. But if you want to taste life a second time, keep reading…..

Interests: I am writer, reader and teacher. I am interested in the pivotal role food plays in our lives and its ability to connect our concerns whether at breakfast, lunch, or dinner time. I teach a Masters course on 20th century Food Literature, its legacy and influence today at the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Piedmont Italy. I have written and worked for the New York Times, Flavor Magazine, CivilEats, TimeOut Berlin, SlowTravelBerlin. I am a contributor at the DailyBeast/Newsweek, NPR, as well as an in- house European editor at Unlike City Guides. American born, I live and write in Berlin, Germany.

Recent Activity

Margaret Schlegel, E.M. Forster’s heroine, made...

Margaret Schlegel, E.M. Forster’s heroine, made me a writer, or at least she made me realize I wanted to be one. In a 10th grade English class I read her assertion, “Only Connect! Live in fragments no longer” which gave me the jolt that high school soda vending machines and... Continue reading

Posted Apr 6, 2013 at LesGensFaims

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Sketch of A Portrait

I am not a rosy-cheeked bon vivant despite my well-traveled life. My short journalism career has largely focused on food, a subject that I saw as a platform to connect other concerns, including politics, history, art, and science. My career as a food and culture reporter began in Berlin in... Continue reading

Posted Feb 15, 2013 at LesGensFaims

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I first considered the meaning of the word snack in fourth grade while reading the children's book, The Giver. The main character, Jonas remembers elementary school, when pronouncing the word eluded him. He says “smack” instead and is punished with the literal smack of a ruler until he learns to... Continue reading

Posted Jan 20, 2013 at LesGensFaims

7

Stock is Everything

A purist who eats for pleasure. Did I mention, she's Swiss - born and bred by perfectly chiseled mountains, striking green pastures - all of which Hollywood has, time and time again, failed to recreate. This is no gastronomic enigma. This is Laura Schälchli - someone who completely embodies the... Continue reading

Posted Jul 27, 2012 at LesGensFaims

26

A Good Appetite Is Hard to Find?

AJ Liebling said, "The primary requisite for writing well about food is a good appetite. Without this, it is impossible to accumulate, within the allotted span, enough experience of eating to have anything worth setting down. Each day brings only two opportunities for field work, and they are not to... Continue reading

Posted Jun 21, 2012 at LesGensFaims

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A Wise Man Always Eats Well

The Chinese sage and philosopher, Confucius once said, "A wise man always eats well." Fast forward a few hundred centuries to a dining room table in Free Union, Virginia where my Grandfather, a philosopher in his own right said,"Never eat anything that goes splat." He was not referring to the... Continue reading

Posted Jun 11, 2012 at LesGensFaims

18

Love in Your Dish?

"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." And so begins Leo Tolstoy's, Anna Karenina, a masterpiece that relayed and exposed certain universal truths about the human condition, even in its opening line. Fast forward a few centuries later to late 19th century Burgundy,... Continue reading

Posted May 20, 2012 at LesGensFaims

8

I once casually drank a bottle of 1998 Barolo wine. The sanctity of this esteemed vintage slipped past my lips and palate only to quickly quench my thirsty desire to sustain my immature buzz. I had stumbled across the bottle in my parents basement hidden between the forgotten pool table,... Continue reading

Posted May 9, 2012 at LesGensFaims

2

The Easter Bunny

My earliest memories of Easter took place on a farm. It was my Grandfather's farm, bought with his retirement pension from the U.S. Military. His skills on the polo field were one of the many talents of Colonel Arthur Wilson. He also had a knack for names and his racehorses... Continue reading

Posted Apr 8, 2012 at LesGensFaims

4

Frog in Your Throat

The witches of yesteryear often talked of the fountain of youth. Pounce de Leon searched in vain deep in the jungles of south Florida, but the only water he found was swamp water and it was loaded with alligators. Where I'm from,we have our own fountain of youth and we... Continue reading

Posted Mar 25, 2012 at LesGensFaims

5

There are few individuals with whom I can dine. I say this without hesitation or a hint of snobbery. It's simple: People have different tastes and how they measure up over a meal can either make or break and an evening. There is one individual with whom I can always... Continue reading

Posted Mar 9, 2012 at LesGensFaims

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MFK Fisher's Alphabet for Gourmets is a fine way to quell the winter blues and her chapter "W is for Wanton" could not be more apropos. The text's description of a seductive supper relying on tactful plotting and artful skill as opposed to stiff liquor is bound to get the... Continue reading

Posted Nov 27, 2011 at LesGensFaims

2

G is for Gluttony

Gluttony is a word that invokes immediate denial. Associated with one of the seven deadly sins, it is nothing to gloat about or promote. However, everyone has trespassed at some point in time. It is only a matter of whether the individual can be honest with himself and acknowledge the... Continue reading

Reblogged Sep 2, 2011 at LesGensFaims

4

The Pleasures of Nutrition

When the Spartan men would return from battle, the dedicated Spartan women would give them a glass of red wine with a rusty nail in it. After all of their blood, sweat, and toil on the battlefield, their men were low on iron. Yes, these almost-mythological warriors needed to refuel... Continue reading

Posted Jul 23, 2011 at LesGensFaims

2

The Holy Trinity

My Catholic upbringing has slowly worked its way into my subconscious this week beginning with gastronomy's seven deadly sins. Gluttony is definitely one of them and I am certain that Addiction and Craving are culprits, too. Greed is Gluttony's longstanding partner in crime reminding us that too much of a... Continue reading

Posted Jun 26, 2011 at LesGensFaims

2

every night, anna

Commented Jun 24, 2011 on G is for Gluttony at LesGensFaims

G is for Gluttony

Gluttony is a word that invokes immediate denial. Associated with one of the seven deadly sins, it is nothing to gloat about or promote. However, everyone has trespassed at some point in time. It is only a matter of whether the individual can be honest with himself and acknowledge the... Continue reading

Posted Jun 22, 2011 at LesGensFaims

8

The Food Writing Life

Back in December, Dave Eggers, writer and writing instructor, wrote a short opinion piece in the Washington Post discussing “ the writing life”. Echoes of both Joan Didion and George Orwell’s essay, ‘Why I Write’ came to mind. However, Eggers’ piece was a little less serious and leavened with humor.... Continue reading

Posted Jun 12, 2011 at LesGensFaims

7

John Thorne’s Outlaw Cook is a must have for your gastronomical library. His writing is refreshing, informative, and very modest. There is less pomp and more circumstance in Thorne’s writing. He takes you on a gustatory journey beginning with his early year’s in Manhattan’s lower east side where he skimmed... Continue reading

Posted Jun 10, 2011 at LesGensFaims

7

Les Gens Ont Faims

There is the presumption that because you write about food, you are somehow a skilled and superior cook. I am afraid this is a falsehood and now I would like to put the record straight. If one writes about something, it does not mean that person embodies every aspect of... Continue reading

Posted Jun 2, 2011 at LesGensFaims

9

Breakfast of Champions

My father has many attributes: he is hard working, intelligent, brave, and extremely generous. Although there are few, he does have his vices: cigars, red wine, and road rage. The later could be mistaken for a common trait amongst many Americans – collateral damage due to the fast and furious... Continue reading

Posted May 31, 2011 at LesGensFaims

1

Learning How To Eat

The first month of school, I was too scared to cook. I had finally arrived at the University of Gastronomic Sciences only to find myself, as expected, amongst like-minded people with illustrious backgrounds in food, strong opinions and taste buds. Rather than feel inspired, I felt intimidated and suddenly found... Continue reading

Posted May 24, 2011 at LesGensFaims

1

A Good Appetite

“The primary requisite for writing well about food is a good appetite. Without this, it is impossible to accumulate, within the allotted span, enough experience of eating to have anything worth setting down. Each day brings only two opportunities for fieldwork, and they are not to be wasted minimizing the... Continue reading

Posted May 20, 2011 at LesGensFaims

3

Summer Reading: Take 1

Anyone interested in escaping mainstream food writing, should pick up a copy of The Penguin Book of Food Drink, edited by food writer and Chairman of the Oxford Symposium, Paul Levy. This anthology demonsrates that there is a significant strand of English literature that takes food and drink as its... Continue reading

Posted May 18, 2011 at LesGensFaims

4

The First Time I Saw Paris

“Madame, Your husband called again.” Like the majority of all men ranging from young adolescent males (some of which included my own high school guy friends) to the very old, our Parisian hotel concierge was in love with my mother. She looked up graciously hiding the pain of a torn... Continue reading

Posted May 4, 2011 at LesGensFaims

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