Paris_ The Collected Traveler - Barrie Kerper [111]
French Country Cooking, Elizabeth David (John Lehmann, 1951; various reissues available). The combination of David’s text and the beautiful color reproductions of artworks depicting food by Bonnard, Gauguin, Chardin, Signac, Monet, Renoir, and others makes this one of my most treasured volumes.
French Lessons: Adventures with Knife, Fork, and Corkscrew, Peter Mayle (Knopf, 2001). Mayle claims he can’t pretend to have done more than scratch the surface of French gastronomy, but the surface he did scratch is enlightening and entertaining. For this culinary journey Mayle traveled to all corners of France to attend the sort of wonderful gastronomic fêtes et foires that make visiting France so rewarding. He was surprised about “the high level of enthusiasm for any event, however bizarre, that sought to turn eating and drinking into a celebration. The amount of effort put in by the organizers, the stall holders, and the general public (who, in some cases, had traveled halfway across France) was astonishing. I cannot imagine any other race prepared to devote an entire weekend to frogs’ legs or snails or the critical assessment of chickens.” Four events are within two hours of Paris: Les Glorieuses, the most important chicken event of the year; the Foire aux Escargots in Martigny-les-Bains; Les Trois Glorieuses, a wine auction held every November in Beaune; and the boudin festival in Monthureux, north of Dijon. Best of all for travelers is the final chapter, “Last Course,” a detailed list of all the fairs, festivals, restaurants, and places featured, with contact information for each.
The Physiology of Taste, or Meditations on Transcendental Gastronomy, Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, translated by M. F. K. Fisher and with illustrations by Wayne Thiebaud (Counterpoint, 1994; originally published by Heritage Press, 1949; available in a new Everyman’s Library edition, 2009). Physiology is also available in several other editions, but this illustrated hardcover from Counterpoint is the edition to have (if you can find it). Brillat-Savarin (1755–1826) is right up there with Apicius as one of the world’s greatest gastronomes, and he is the one we have to thank for such observations as “The discovery of a new dish does more for human happiness than the discovery of a new star.” (Or, to quote Mort Rosenblum in A Goose in Toulouse, “Great human events are fine, Anthelme Brillat-Savarin observed, but let’s not forget lunch.”) I will surely be condemned for admitting that I’m a bit bored by some of the essays, but overall this is a masterpiece.
A Special Ensemble
Two books that I treasure and that I feel deserve to be noted separately are Bouquet de France: An Epicurean Tour of the French Provinces by Samuel Chamberlain with recipes translated and adapted by Narcissa Chamberlain (Gourmet Books, 1952) and Gourmet’s Paris (Gourmet Books, no copyright date appears anywhere in the volume I own, but I believe the book dates from the late 1970s or early 1980s).
Bouquet de France is a guidebook, restaurant directory, and cookbook, and even though the restaurant listings are obviously out of date (though a few are still open!) this is a terrific read. The Chamberlains lived for more than twelve years in pre–World War II France, and they contributed many articles to Gourmet. Narcissa’s passion was gastronomy while Samuel’s was illustration, and the illustrations in this book are what really set it apart.
Gourmet’s Paris does not feature illustrations but rather color photographs and a number of contributions from several writers, notably Naomi Barry, who opens her very good and still apropos essay with the observation that “everybody—consciously or subconsciously—comes to Paris looking for an extension of himself, for a talent not yet fully expressed, for a romance not yet realized, for a new way to look, a joie de vivre with vitamins plus, a heightened sense of identity, and sometimes just for Fun. Unless you are an ascetic by conviction, part of