Whether the subject of her fancy is the lowly, unassuming potato or the love life of that aphrodisiac mollusk the oyster, Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher writes with a simplicity that belies the complexities of the life she often muses on. She is hailed as one of America's preeminent writers about gastronomy. But to limit her to that genre would be a disservice. She was passionate and well-traveled, and her narratives fill over two dozen highly acclaimed...