A Cordiall Water: A Garland of Odd and Old Receipts to Assuage the Ills of Man and Beast

MFK Fisher is such a marvelous author, my advice to anyone even halfway interested in cooking is to read everything she ever wrote. This book is different in the sense that it has `receipts' to cure ills. There is much that would be of interest to anyone fascinated in natural remedies and medicine. Fisher describes many cures in short little chapters from how to treat a cold, (lemonade, or brandy, or sage leaves, or onions) to how to cure a hangover. There is advice in each chapter and her thoughts are integrated, including those on the perils of obesity and the fad dieting to cure it, or to avoid it. You have to remember this is a reissue, written originally in 1961. I appreciated Fisher's updated preface in 1980. She died in 1992. This truly is an interesting little book, one many would find worthy of note, both to read and maybe to even attempt some of the tried and true folk remedies.

With her distinct voice, M.F.K. Fisher discusses the medical, cultural, social, and emotional attributes of traditional folk remedies and medical treatments. This small, gentle book is a "must" read for those interested in new age, herbal, and alternative treatment for maladies, illnesses, and the physical and mental stresses of contemporary society. It could be effectively argued that this book is a classic in the way it discusses our reliance, and more effective usage, of plants, elixers, and other "cordial waters" to enhance our sense of wholeness.