My Fine Fellow

Some years ago I decided to take a cooking class with a professional chef. I’d long been a kitchen hobbyist, but life was hectic and I wanted to streamline my process. It was a resounding success. Simply adjusting the way I held my knife and chopped an onion was a revelation. However, I was fortunate enough to be taking this course in a kosher environment. I didn’t have to worry about cooking items that I could not eat due to my religious practice or any of the other awkwardness that comes with keeping kosher while trying to advance within the non-kosher culinary establishment.

The titular character of Jennieke Cohen’s My Fine Fellow, Elijah Little, is not so lucky. In the alternate history London in which Elijah lives, the culinary arts have been elevated to the very height of posh society. As a street peddler of empanadas, Elijah has little hope of ascending the gastronomic ladder, but all that changes when he strikes a deal with two female student culinarians. As part of their final project at school they will educate him and prove that culinaria can be used to elevate any members of society. What Elijah doesn’t tell them is that he is Jewish – leading to some issues when he is asked to cook foods that are not a normal part of his diet.

The story is a gender bent retelling of a retelling – My Fair Lady was itself an adaptation of Pygmalion. However, having acted in my fair share of amateur productions of the aforementioned play, I found that this book is no simple retelling. In the character of Elijah, and the choice to make him Jewish, Cohen introduces the concept that external factors are not the only barriers to advancement in society. Being Jewish is not an extrinsic factor like speech patterns, clothes, and education. It is an unchangeable part of Elijah’s identity and Jews were barred by gentile merchants from owning their own businesses at the time. Being Jewish is not something that Elijah wants to change, nor should he. Instead, the change needs to occur in society itself.

This message is further brought home by the Penelope Pickering character, who is the daughter of a Filipina mother and a third-son-of-a-Baron father. Since society frowns on their marriage, Penelope’s parents have raised her abroad and have stayed away from London during her time in school lest their relationship jeopardize Penelope’s chances at becoming a culinarian. Penelope, for her part, never denies her heritage and in fact celebrates it through food. Although most of her fellow culinarians favor European cuisine, Penelope specializes in the food of the America’s. When she tells Elijah she believes he can achieve everything he wants, it is not because she is unrealistic about the social mores of the time. It is because she believes in changing society through direct action.

The alternate history aspect is intriguing. I enjoy a timeline that shows women advancing in society and a royal family that is more open to change and diversity than the royals history chose to gift us with. However, my favorite part of the story was how all my pet peeves with original play are repaired. The Freddy character in particular is dispatched most satisfactorily. Plus, rather than the gloomy slippers scene, the Higgins character – in this case student culinarian Helena Higgins – is allowed an actual chance for contemplation and restorative action.

Elijah learns to cut an onion exactly the same way I did. The descriptions of his training, and the food he cooks, are realistic and also mouth watering. I like to think that although this is an alternate history, it may yet lead to a brighter future in which the Elijah’s of the world can learn to cook the same way I did – in an environment which respects and values their cultural culinary background rather than seeking to override it.

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