For many of us, our stripped back, locked-down existence has elevated the significance of food. While we might have previously breezed past a slightly subpar supper, now it’s a day-wrecking tragedy. As such, now seems like the perfect time to get to know Diana Kennedy, the 97-year-old food writer whose undimmed passion for the traditional food of Mexico has seen her rattling all over that country in a beaten-up truck, scoffing street snacks and home-cooked fare, and collecting recipes.
Crisply British and deliciously no-nonsense, Kennedy is a wonderfully bracing character for Elizabeth Carroll’s deft documentary. Her monologues, interspersed with curses at errant dogs or timid drivers, are as spicy and satisfying as her cooking. “If her enthusiasm were not beautiful, it would border on mania.” The quote is from her long-term colleague, the late New York Times food editor Craig Claiborne, and it perfectly sums up the appeal of a woman who can make a recipe for the definitive guacamole seem both irresistibly appetising and a bit like a declaration of war.
