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Book Cover for: The Perfect Meal, John Baxter

The Perfect Meal

John Baxter

Winner:IACP Crystal Whisk Award -Culinary Travel (2014)

IACP Cookbook Award Winner (Culinary Travel)

"Full of humor, insight, and mouth-watering details, The Perfect Meal is a delightful tour of traditional French culture and cuisine." --Travel and Leisure

John Baxter's The Perfect Meal is part grand tour of France, part history of French cuisine, taking readers on a journey to discover and savor some of the world's great gastronomic delights before they disappear completely.

Some of the most revered and complex elements of French cuisine are in danger of disappearing as old ways of agriculture, butchering, and cooking fade and are forgotten. In this charming culinary travel memoir, John Baxter follows up his bestselling The Most Beautiful Walk in the World by taking his readers on the hunt for some of the most delicious and bizarre endangered foods of France.

The Perfect Meal: In Search of the Lost Tastes of France is the perfect read for foodies and Francophiles, cooks and gastronomists, and fans of food culture.

Book Details

  • Publisher: Harper Perennial
  • Publish Date: Feb 26th, 2013
  • Pages: 400
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 7.05in - 5.06in - 1.00in - 0.58lb
  • EAN: 9780062088062
  • Categories: Europe - FranceRegional & Cultural - FrenchEurope - France

About the Author

Baxter, John: -

John Baxter has lived in Paris for more than twenty years. He is the author of four acclaimed memoirs about his life in France: The Perfect Meal: In Search of the Lost Tastes of France; The Most Beautiful Walk in the World: A Pedestrian in Paris; Immoveable Feast: A Paris Christmas; and We'll Always Have Paris: Sex and Love in the City of Light. Baxter, who gives literary walking tours through Paris, is also a film critic and biographer whose subjects have included the directors Fellini, Kubrick, Woody Allen, and most recently, Josef von Sternberg. Born in Australia, he lives with his wife and daughter in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés neighborhood, in the same building Sylvia Beach called home.

More books by John Baxter

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Book Cover for: The Most Beautiful Walk in the World, John Baxter
Book Cover for: Immoveable Feast: A Paris Christmas, John Baxter
Book Cover for: The Most Beautiful Walk in the World: A Pedestrian in Paris, John Baxter
Book Cover for: Of Love and Paris: Historic, Romantic and Obsessive Liaisons, John Baxter
Book Cover for: Untold Paris: The Secret History of the City of Light, John Baxter
Book Cover for: A Year in Paris: Season by Season in the City of Light, John Baxter
Book Cover for: Saint-Germain-Des-Pres: Paris's Rebel Quarter, John Baxter
Book Cover for: Secret Cinema: The Rise and Fall of the Blue Movie, John Baxter
Book Cover for: Montparnasse: Paris's District of Memory and Desire, John Baxter
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Book Cover for: Paris on Foot: John Baxter's Insider Guide, John Baxter
Book Cover for: Von Sternberg, John Baxter
Book Cover for: The Golden Moments of Paris: A Guide to the Paris of the 1920s, John Baxter
Book Cover for: A new and Impartial History of England, From the Most Early Period of Genuine Historical Evidence to the Present Important and Alarming Crisis; ... As, John Baxter
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Praise for this book

"A mouthwatering, erudite journey through France's foodie heritage, some of which might be lost forever without the likes of Baxter recalling and showcasing them for today's diner." -- France Today

"Full of humor, insight, and mouth-watering details, The Perfect Meal is a delightful tour of 'traditional' French culture and cuisine." -- Travel and Leisure

"As Mr. Baxter explores in his book, The Perfect Meal: In Search of the Lost Tastes of France, great French dishes still exist in their original form, most notably at the place of their birth." -- Ann Mah, New York Times

"On a quest to find the soul of traditional French cuisine, John Baxter journeys from Paris to Provence. Along the way, he digs into bowls of bouillabaisse, confiture de vieux garcon and other classics." -- AAA World Magazine

"We are the beneficiaries of John Baxter's considerable, vivid love for the expatriate life in Paris." -- Los Angeles Times

"Reading [John Baxter] is the next best thing to a Paris vacation." -- Boston Globe

"Baxter's command of French history and culture offers the reader a cornucopia of anecdote and detail worth savoring." -- Booklist

"The most valuable (and equally endangered) tradition restored by Baxter is the oral one. Local characters, friends, chefs, and enthusiasts enliven his quest and reveal each element in the evolution of the menu to be part of a collective cognitive lineage. A must read for foodies, Francophiles, and armchair travelers." -- Library Journal

"Delightful. ... This is one of those delicious books that tickles the psyche, seduces the senses, and effortlessly enlarges the intellect simultaneously." -- Publishers Weekly

"A wonderful mix of travel memoir and French culinary history." -- Shelf Awareness

Winner - Culinary Travel -- IACP COOKBOOK AWARDS