Pampille's Table: Recipes and Anecdotes from the French Countryside: From Marthe Daudet's Les Bons Plats de France

An utterly charming collection of french recipes. Pampille's remarkably fresh voice (she's much funnier and more sarcastic than I would have expected from a woman in 1919, which is a wonderful preconception to have challenged) introduces each of the regions of France and then gives local recipes. Some of them are a little old-fashioned and preposterous, but some seem totally doable and delicious. She opens with a description of "The Awful Dinner Party" and then proceeds to both honor and lambaste her countrymen and women. Not shy with her opinions, this book gives you a real sense of a time and place, and teaches you about cooking to boot.