Diana Kennedy’s ‘Last 4 Years’
At 96, the maven of Mexican cuisine tells it like it is
San Pancho, Michoacán, Mexico. We’re sitting in the afterglow of a long, late lunch, our bellies full of carrot soup, macerated blackberries, and a gentle shot of local mezcal. It’s the end of the rainy season here, and we’ve taken shelter in the dining room of a family-run inn where cookbook author Diana Kennedy entertains out-of-town guests when she isn’t cooking for them in her home. It’s in this quiet moment that Kennedy makes an offhand remark about her plans for “the last four years,” tucked in right before a “thank you” for the meal and a characteristically impatient search for the check.
“You said the last four years? Are you thinking about the number 100?”
“One hundred. Right. One hundred,” she replies. “I don’t want to live beyond 100. Every afternoon, they say, ‘We have to go and see old Di because she’s ailing.’ No. You have young families! You have old mothers! You have old aunts to see!”
How to react to this declaration? Offering some persuasion to the contrary, even in the name of good manners, seems to be out of the question; Kennedy is insistent in all things. She will vigorously admonish you for the grievous offense of mishearing a detail of a recipe, and gleefully tears down the careers of Mexico’s most…
