The Food of France

This is by far the best book I have ever read on France and what makes it such a unique and beautiful country. Yes, it was written a good time ago, but unlike America history is something to cherish and is very present in France. Mr. Root captures the pure essence of France through it's food. I would strongly encourage anyone traveling to France or returning from a trip to read The Food of France. As a food writer from a day when writers told stories Mr. Root takes you into each of the regions of France provides you with tidbits of unknown and known history and the food that was shaped by it. Mr. Root knew his food very well and enjoyed it in a way that many would only hope to, a true pleasure in gastronomic reading.

This book is an irresistible read for anyone with a love of food an an interest in the history, geography and culture of regional France and its food products and cuisine. Root writes beautifully and it's impossible not to become as enthusiastic as the author as he shares his vast knowledge of each region of France and its culinary traditions. A book to return to again and again.

Now finishing my second reading of this tremendous book, all the while suspecting that Waverly Root was really a well-disguised poseur and not really the erudite man-of-the-world he appears to have been, I have to finally admit that, in addition to being one hell of a fine writer, he must also have been one of the most broadly-informed gourmands ever. True, occassional anecdotes and opinions of his betray the fact that the book was originally published 50 years ago, but the scope and intimacy of his knowledge with pretty much every provincial outpost, grand boulevard, and Basque backwater in France is astounding. I suspect he read and took to heart the 1950s edition of the Larousse Gastronomique, since many of the culinary practices he describes hardly deviate from what the Great Book says, but he provides so many examples of eating experiences that could be nothing but first-hand that I have to conclude that he actually DID spend his 30+ years in France doing little but travelling, eating, and drinking. These culinary expeditions are a treasure now: many of the regions he sampled so amply have been globalized to oblivion. His enthusiastic, almost childlike [but, nonetheless, world-wise] forays into the Haut Pyrenees, for example, record a local tradition of farmhouse cooking that is no more. But he was no mere chronicler of foods: his essays are leavened with witty, insightful, broadly-informed and fascinating anecdotes and contextual notes geographical, historical, literary, and agricultural. In this sense, I believe he was one of the pioneers of the broad, anectdotal form of journalism that remains perhaps the most effective means of presenting the world to an armchair audience. I have to forgive his peculiarities. Even his apparent contempt for Champagne seems inconsequential when I read his descriptions of travelling into darkest Corsica, sampling the wild, unrefined local wines, and immediately perceiving their perfect suitability to the food of the region. I am not aware of any other food and wine writer from that era who so heartily insisted on describing food and wine as a marriage. He wrote 20 years before Richard Olney brought his own sophistications to the table, and, understood in this context, his predilections must have been radical at the time. I urge you to read this book with a willingness to forgive the occassional signs of age. They are few and forgivable. Please savor the writing, with its erudition, lovely sense of timing and flow, gentle humor and enthusiasm. Please also consider it as the eloquent indictment of globalization that it is. To read a book written in the uncritical heyday of postwar American optimism and to find in it laments that the old world was slipping away, a victim of commerce and centralized policymaking, is a poignant experience indeed. This book is an education like few others.

Mr Root's overarching theory is that French food can be divided into the three culinary domains of fat, butter and oil. The Food of France reflects this belief and is similarly divided into three main sections, each chapter within a section dealing with the geographical/culinary regions within each domain. Within this structure, each chapter explores the food of a specific culinary region, and highlights the dishes distinct to that region. Underpinning Mr Root's overarching theory is the premise that food and how it is cooked is intimately related to and is influenced by the geography, history, and culture (agri- and otherwise) of its region. As a result, each region develops a food and cooking style unique to itself. He proceeds to illustrate this with erudition, verve, wit and style. Drawing on his knowledge of French geography, history, and culture, as well as what seems to be his vast gastronomic experiences across France, he makes a fine case for how each have been an ingredient in shaping and influencing the development of the food of each region. The Food of France will not only tell you what goes into an omelette provencale, it will tell you why this is different from an omelette a la nomande or an omelette a la nicoise, as well as consider different theories as to how the omelette got its name. The book comes with a general index, as well as an index of food and dishes. Dishes are described with sufficient particularity that a good cook could reproduce the dish. I should note that as the book was written in 1958, some of his information is a little outdated (his recommendations for good years of wine) or a little late (his urgings to visit Provence before it becomes too touristed). Notwithstanding this, The Food of France is an excellent resource and wonderful read: perhaps there can be no better recommendation than to admit that I enjoyed it so much that I have gone to buy The Food of Italy, also written by Root.My Personal Rating Scale: 5 stars: Engaging, well-written, highly entertaining or informative, thought provoking, pushes the envelope in one or more ways, a classic. 4 stars: Engaging, well-written, highly entertaining or informative. Book that delivers well in terms of its specific genre or type, but does not do more than that. 3 stars: Competent. Does what it sets out to do competently, either on its own terms on within the genre, but is nothing special. May be clichéd but is still entertaining. 2 stars: Fails to deliver in various respects. Significantly clichéd. Writing is poor or pedestrian. Failed to hold my attention. 1 star: Abysmal. Fails in all respects.

The Food of France, written in 1958, is a wonderfully erudite and relaxed look into French cuisine. Root, who has evidently spent many years in France eating his way through its various provinces, has written a travelogue and a paen to French cuisine.Root divides France into various gastronomic regions, and looks at the foods typical to each of these regions. His theory, that these gastronomic regions can be collated under three different regions - the domains of fat, butter and olive oil - forms the overarching structure of the book. In each region, he describes both its social and cultural history, as well as its geography and agriculture, in order to better explain why the food of that region developed in the way that it has. His riffs move from the origin of the name "Languedoc" (the language where "yes" was "oc" and not "oui") and "Carcassonne" to the reason for large roofs in the Jura region. While some of this information may undoubtedly be out of date (his urgent plea to visit Provence before it becomes too touristetd is definitely 20 years too late by now as are his recommedations of good years for particular wines), most of the information is still pertinent and interesting. Among all of this, he manages to describe with luscious wit and warmth the food of the region. He will tell you with authority how snails are cooked, which cities have the best type of pastries, and what goes into the preparation of cote de porc a la vosgienne. If you've ever wondered about the difference between an omelette a la savoyarde (and he tells an amusing and fascinating story of how the omelette came to be so named) and an omelette a la lyonnaise, what a pamplemousse is or what goes into a cassoulet (depends on which region the cassoulet is made in), this is the book for you. It comes with an excellent general index, as well as an index of food and dishes. Cooks out there might be interested to know that he frequently describes dishes with sufficient particularity that a good cook could reproduce some of the dishes so described, even though details as to proportions and cooking techiques are not provided.I enjoyed this so much that I went off to buy The Food of Italy also by Root and am anticipating reading that with equal relish. There can really be no better recommendation than that.