Union Square Farmers Market 11/7/2011. photo by Alice Lee
Seeing the marvelous display of potatoes pictured above reminded me of this remarkable sentence, by Elizabeth David:
For the thousandth time, why, why, why, I ask do we, the English, the pioneers of European potato cultivation, now grow such uninteresting potatos, while the French, who refused to touch them until the Revolution and Parmentier forced them into a reconsideration of the ill-used tuber, and quickly making up for that lost time, took to growing delicate, waxy yellow potatoes, and to making them into wonderful dishes like pommes Anna and gratin dauphinois, not to mention quite everyday potato salads, no easy matter to achieve with our own all-purpose collapsible English spuds.
-- from An Omelette and a Glass of Wine by Elizabeth David (1985)
I wonder, would someone writing for a mainstream publication today get away with such a long and winding sentence?
-- sdh










