Fisher, M. F. K

For more than fifty-five years, Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher (1908–1992), a self-styled third-generation journalist and widely acclaimed “poet of the appetites,” crafted essays, stories, and articles that changed the character of culinary writing across America. Born on 3 July 1908 in Albion, Michigan, Fisher was the daughter of Rex Brenton Kennedy and Edith Oliver Holbrook, who in 1912 settled in Whittier, California, when Rex Kennedy became part owner and editor of The Whittier News.

Fisher attended private boarding schools, Illinois College, Whittier College, and Occidental College before continuing her education in 1929 at the University of Dijon, France, as the newly married Mrs. Alfred Fisher. The Fishers returned to California in 1932 and lived in Laguna Beach, doing odd jobs and writing. M. F. K. Fisher’s first published article, “Pacific Village,” appeared in Westways in 1934.