Thanks very much for maintaining this wonderful recording. If you could revisit the text intro on the website, you might more accurately express what this story is about.

Your words, "a staggeringly gluttonous meal at a French roadside inn," appear to express shock, or judgement, but not appreciation - more in tune with a typically american, protestant sensibility, than in accord with the French perspective in which this story was written and read.

The meal was not about quantity, but about beauty.

The meal she described was a ritual consecrated to the beauty that can be found in cooking, serving, and sharing food. As the communicant, MF performed her role in receiving, appreciating the dishes presented to her. In the sense of the French, this meal was a culinary 'tour de force.'

It is true that in this meal, she had to eat a lot, and it is also true that MF was an avowed hedonist, but she was not a glutton. Raised in a Quaker household, she was very much of the American sensibility. This story, written after a decade living in France, both resides in the dissonance between her upbringing and her adopted culture, and reveals her profound appreciation of the French culinary tradition.

Hope this helps!

Chris Howell, St. Helena, California