Ruth Reichl On David Foster Wallace's "Consider The Lobster": "He Argued Over Every Edit"

“He and I had a huge fight about the editing of that piece…. We even fought about that title.”

Over on New Books In Food, hosted by Allen Salkin, Ruth Reichl talks about the editing of David Foster Wallace’s “Consider The Lobster” for Gourmet. Reichl had worked to get Wallace to cover something for ages, and finally he settled on a lobster festival. And then… he returned with a piece that was mostly about the agony a lobster must feel: “Is it all right to boil a sentient creature alive just for our gustatory pleasure?” Chaos ensued. Advertisers ran.

You can listen to the whole episode here, in which Reichl discusses everything from New York City hot dogs to James Beard to the history of Gourmet to her writing cabin. Mmm, writing cabin.