Dear Eaters,

This is a blog about food. I am writing it after years of eating, so I have lots of experience. I also love feeding people, which is different from just having an obsession with cooking.

I am a French professor living in the Hudson valley in New York. My interest in cooking came first from my mother, who always insisted that we sit down together for dinner as a family. I’ve had no formal training as a cook, but I wouldn’t say that I am self taught. I learned the basics at home, mostly from my mother, and also my grandmothers, my aunts and neighbors - the women in my life who made the daily bread and the grand holiday feasts and often even brought home the bacon. I’ve worked in quite a few restaurants, done some catering and have had some extended stays in France and elsewhere. When I travel, I don’t want to go to all of the fanciest restaurants. I try to get invited to people’s homes, to go to markets and small shops and ask for recipes or I tiptoe into restaurant kitchens. From meals at my friend’s grandparents in Paris to dinner at a stranger’s house outside of Tokyo, I almost never say no to an invitation to eat.

The three things that I am most interested in are literature, history and food. I was wondering how to combine them and came up with the idea of sharing my culinary obsession with others who are interested in the same things. I named it after the Greek goddess of the harvest, Ceres, and Bacchus the god of wine. “Without Ceres and Bacchus, Venus is cold.” (Terence, Eunuchus, Act IV, line 5) I would love to hear what you have to say. You can write to me at: ceres at ceresandbacchus dot com.