My Life in Food, by Steven Berkoff
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Someone with such a love of physical theatre as Steven Berkoff is bound to be regularly hungry, so it's unsurprising he's developed the passion for food described here. Unfortunately there's a peculiar quality to his prose that makes reading about it hard. Sentences that he perhaps hoped would read as urbane come across like the bumptious ruminations of a drunk – though the intoxicant in question seems to be his own, regal presence.
Here he is, dining out: "There are few experiences that one looks forward to with more unalloyed joy than tea on the exquisite black and white terrace at Reid's hotel, Madeira... your eyes soothed by a bay of everlasting blue under a slowly floating carapace of soft white gossamer clouds." In small doses this is entertaining, but can any reader be expected to deal with sentences such as: "He would plunge his naked arms into the pickle barrels and fish out a few for you and while they were undoubtedly delicious the proximity of his being in such close conjunction was a bit intimate"?
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments