The one thing I love about blogging about food is finally noticing how much it comes up in times that I’m not stuffing my face. Oftentimes, I come across other people’s opinions about food while reading, and I’m not just referring to the other blogs I follow. Pretty much every one out there has an opinion on food and it can show up everywhere from a random comic book to a collection cultivated to highlight the impact of food and drink on our lives. The latter is exactly what New Directions tried to do when they published On Booze in 2011. I picked it up full of wonder for two dollars in New York, knowing that F. Scott and booze went together like teenagers and tempers. However, as I waded my way through, I realized that the premise was a bit thin. A few sentences from here, a paragraph pulled from there, and you have a mismatched compilation of stories where you have to squint to see the Jazz Age and use a magnifying glass to see how it has anything to do with booze. Despite the poor execution, there were some gems trapped within the eighty-six pages. That’s what I bring you here, because while I love Fitzgerald, I’m not going to make any of you read this book. Go pick up Tender is the Night instead…after you read what I have to say, obviously.
“Debut: the first time a young girl is seen drunk in public.”
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“When he gets sober for six months and can’t stand any of the people he’s liked when drunk.”
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“Excuse Christ-like tone of letter. Began tippling at page 2 and am now positively holy (like Dostoevsky’s non-stinking monk)”
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“Many people who were not alcoholics were lit up four days out of seven…and the hangover became a part of the day as well allowed-for as the Spanish siesta.”
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“…wasting the dinner hour in an argument about which hotel: there was one in Beaune where Ernest Hemingway had liked the trout. Finally we decided to drive all night, and we ate well in a stable courtyard facing a canal- the green-white glare of Provence had already began to dazzle us so that we didn’t care whether the food was good or not.”
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“I turn in, perhaps with a night-cap…and read till drowsy on a last cigarette.”
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“She drank the gin fizz thinking it was lemonade and ruined the luncheon table next day.”
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And there you have it! I may not have loved this book, but I will say that good old Fitz has a way with words. Now, I’m off to read some more until I’m drowsy, though I will be sans cigarette.
A Famished Foodie 
“And the hangover became a part of the day as well allowed-for as the Spanish siesta.” Sounds like college
I highly doubt Fitzgerald ever really left that college mentality.
Fantastic post …so interesting.
I always enjoy finding out what some of the most famous authors out there had to say about everyday life, particularly food/drink