Part 3: Claiborne, The Man

Claiborne, the man

Behind the respectable and authoritative food critic, Claiborne was a complex man who struggled with personal issues. Author and director of the Southern Foodways Alliance, John T. Edge explores Claiborne’s ambivalent relationship with his native South, a theme we will expand on in the unit on Edna Lewis.

Claiborne was also interested in cooking, as his very popular cookbooks indicate. Former New York Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni reflected in a piece Links to an external site. celebrating the 50th anniversary of Claiborne’s column: “Claiborne made it not just acceptable but exciting — actually, mandatory — for home cooks and amateur eaters to concoct and swap notes about culinary rapture.” Author Betty Fussell, who cooked with him in her New Jersey home kitchen, offers her personal take on Claiborne’s character and his public persona.

In her talk, Fussell points out how even though Claiborne often wrote about home cooking, men nevertheless read his pieces.

Besides being a great writer, he spoke with authority, making food newsworthy and taking it out of the sphere of feminine activities, a realm that men did not want to get involved with. By doing so, he also set new standards for taste, a matter of great relevance for many Americans, as it was often considered as an index for class. Watch Author Anne Mendelson discuss Claiborne’s impact on the popularity of a topic that was often considered of interest exclusively to women.

We will expand the discussion about food criticism, magazines and cookbooks later in the course, when we examine Clementine Paddleford, Michael Batterberry, Marion Cunningham, and Edna Lewis. Next unit will be dedicated to MFK Fisher, an author that developed food writing as a literary art. Let’s conclude our exploration of Claiborne’s life and work with Andy Smith's final considerations.