Good food writing is rarely just about food; it’s about people, places, the way we live, the meat and bones of who we are. In this online writing workshop, we'll explore how the sensory details of food can help us unlock our most fertile memories. Cooking, eating, sharing food—from these seemingly mundane acts of daily life, we can return through language to past versions of ourselves: experiences we thought we'd forgotten, the thing our father said, the way a lover looked at us. “A single image can split open the hard seed of the past,” writes memoirist Mary Karr, “and soon memory pours forth from every direction, sprouting its vines and flowers up around you till the old garden’s taken shape in all its fragrant glory.”

Over the course of six class sessions, we'll study and discuss the work of great writers like M. F. K. Fisher, Diana Abu-Jaber, Kiese Laymon, Francis Lam, and Gabrielle Hamilton, and then we'll apply what we've learned to our own work, writing from a new food-related prompt each week. Participants will also share work and receive constructive feedback from the instructor and the group. No particular experience is necessary, and all skill levels are welcome. All you need is access to a laptop or tablet, an Internet connection, and a sense of curiosity about your life.