Stardust Memories

Helen Taylor M.A. Food Styling. University of Central Lancashire. Dr.J.H. Birchall [email protected] Questionnaire: Food, Nostalgia and Contemporary Cookbooks

PLEASE ANSWER ANY OF THE FOLLOWING AS YOU ARE ABLE-

Would you care to state your name and occupation?

Annabel Dover

Artist

Food is very important in my life, and food is central to many of my memories:

Do you live to eat or eat to live?

I love food and often if I am feeling depressed I think about food I would like to eat. I have tried to work out what it is exactly-it’s certainly a substitute for addressing emotions. I have noticed I instantly want to eat after an argument. I am much more addicted to (excess) food than I ever was to cigarettes. I also spend a lot of my days feeling boredom and frustration and food fulfils temporarily that desire for that gratification-that sounds more sexual than I think it is-although I think that is certainly an element of it. I recently read bits of Paul McKenna’s ‘I can make you thin’ and he mentioned how to be thin you have to stop eating when you are full-this is an alien concept to me! I think also if I gave up eating too much I might have to visit a psychiatrist-I think I would rather eat too much! I think also it’s an aspect of my life that it seems acceptable to lack discipline in-as it will not actually hurt anyone (unless of course I become morbidly obese!)

Do you buy cookbooks? – Are they old or new publications?

Not really. I look at my sisters-they all have Nigel Slater and Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall’s-there is a snobbery they wouldn’t have Jamie Oliver’s now although pre Sainsbury’s perhaps they would have done.

I like Elizabeth David because she was an exciting woman and I suppose there are elements of her writing that alludes to biographical details that Nigella Lawson has adopted in her books and certainly on her programmes. There was a lovely Aga book of the 30s I found at my aunts which was written in a way that almost echoed the aspirations of the soon to be developed NHS…you could see more of a social concern that might be interpreted as nanny-stateism now.

What draws you to them?

I like the idea of ridiculous food I think like a lark inside a quail inside a pheasant etc. repulsive to eat but visually beautiful to imagine-Andy Warhol’s recipes are probably not that apetising to eat. Edward Bawden’s collaboration with Fortnum and Mason highlights the magical as does the great Surrealist recipes of ‘goldfish’ soup which I think was just carrot-revolting but magical like Meret Oppenheim’s furry cup and saucer-which highlights I suppose all of those sensual texture experiences of eating. All the gold leaf and artifice of Lee Miller’s food somehow seems nobler than Fanny Cradock’s lurid mashed potato!

Max de Winter sent you a message of Facebook “Where do I know you from?”

Dear Max,

Sorry you don’t know me. I just liked your name and it is the same as the character in Daphne du Maurier’s book Rebecca. I like the idea that the character was still alive somewhere; the book starts and ends with the recollection of a lost place and a suggestion that the unnamed present day Mrs de Winter and Max de Winter are still alive.

Thank you for being my Facebook friend.

All the very best

Annabel Dover

In “The Analytical Language of John Wilkins,”Borges describes ‘a certain Chinese Encyclopedia,’ the Celestial Emporium of Benevolent Knowledge, in which it is written that animals are divided into:

1. Those that belong to the Emperor

2. Embalmed ones

3. Those that are trained

4. Suckling pigs

5. Mermaids

6. Fabulous ones

7. Stray dogs

8. Those included in the present classification

9. Those that tremble as if they were mad

10. Innumerable ones

11. Those drawn with a very fine camelhair brush

12. Others

13. Those that have just broken a flower vase

14. Those that from a long way off look like flies.

Jumbo flying squid have invaded the shallow waters off San Diego, spooking scuba divers and beachgoers after washing up dead on the beaches.

The carnivorous cephalopods, which weigh up to 45kg (100lb), came up from the depths last week, with swarms of them roughing up unsuspecting divers. Some reported tentacles enveloping their masks yanking at their cameras and gear.

Stories of close encounters with the squid have chased many divers out of the water and created a whirlwind of excitement among those torn between their personal safety and the once-in-a-lifetime chance to swim with the deep-sea giants.

The so-called Humboldt squid, named after the current in the eastern Pacific, have been known to attack humans and are nicknamed “red devils” for their rust-red colouring and mean streak. Divers wanting to observe the creatures often bait the water, use a metal viewing cage or wear chainmail to avoid being lashed by the creature’s tentacles.

The squid, which is most commonly found in deep water from California to the bottom of south America, hunts in schools of up to 1,200 individuals, can swim up to 15 mph and can skim over the water to escape predators.

“I wouldn’t go into the water with them for the same reason I wouldn’t walk into a pride of lions on the Serengeti,” said Mike Bear, a local diver. “For all I know, I’m missing the experience of a lifetime.”

The squid are too deep to bother swimmers and surfers, but many experienced divers say they are staying out of the surf until the sea creatures move on.

Roger Uzun, a veteran scuba diver and amateur underwater videographer, swam with a swarm of the creatures for about 20 minutes and said they appeared more curious than aggressive. The animals taste with their tentacles, he said, and seemed to be touching him and his wet suit to determine if he was edible.

Guardian 17th July 2009

Thank you, I like creepy excitement too. The hair came from my head and Theresa’s head (my wife). She has wonderful red/gold hair. I have brown hair but when the sun shines there is plenty of red to be found. In the future the work will be found in a lake and our DNA will be combined to create some kind of clone. My Daughter Eloise has Golden hair that would fit your book…maybe a new scan of both.

Dear Patrick That’s really interesting thank you I have been thinking about red hair a lot recently and wrote it on my list of things to research at my last supervision meeting. There’s a book on it but I have forgotten what it’s called the something of desire…not as good as the Blonde book.
Red hair really is best seen in the sun and you can discover secret redheads that way it’s true.I was recently at a party where there were two other redheads and I made them line up with me.
I would love a scan of Elöise’s and Theresa’s hair too if they wouldn’t mind. I have just been looking at your blog which I like very much and found a giant squid ( did you see that picture of a giant squid that was in the observer/guardian a while ago? It was great I believed it was real but it was a text misprint and it was a replica) the hair picture you sent me reminded me of a squid/octopus so I was excited to see one on your blog.
I have only just understood the joy of reading and writing blogs. I have recently started one on the a-n site.

Annabel x

Dear Annabel,

Did the two other redheads mind? Was the line-up for a photo? Did a fight ensue?
Yes…I know the 2 books, unable to remember titles too. I work in University Library.

Eloise had her hair cut into a bob recently, so I have a strand. She has Theresa’s hair, very lucky. I find it very striking. When I first heard Theresa’s name being spoken by her Brother at the start of 1996(before I met her), I imagined an orange/gold/red/pink formless cloud shape just above my head…I sort of felt it more than visually sensing it .

Yes of course you can use the image, I look forward to reading the blog. Full of detail. Lot’s of Animals. Your website is very interesting too. I can imagine a huge monograph of your work. or museum in a whole house. or a theme park in a forest. I’ve attached a slightly better image of the work, plus a picture of the giant squid at Propeller Island. Violet Clark likes the picture, which is nice as I like her music.

All the best
Patrick