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 cultural achievements 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.
Review
Baxters command of French history and culture offers the reader a cornucopia of anecdote and detail worth savoring. (Booklist )
Full of humor, insight, and mouth-watering details, The Perfect Meal is a delightful tour of traditional French culture and cuisine. (Travel and Leisure )
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 )
We are the beneficiaries of John Baxters 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 )
A wonderful mix of travel memoir and French culinary history. (Shelf Awareness )
From the Back Cover
Part Grand Tour of France, part history of French cuisine: an irresistible journey, from Paris to Provence, to find the perfect meal
An expat Paris resident for more than twenty years, John Baxter began noticing an alarming trend: just as species of plants and animals are rapidly facing extinction globally, so too are the traditional ingredients and techniques of classic French cooking and eating. Indeed, he worried that the soul of the worlds most revered national cuisine is in danger of disappearing, as centuries-old ways of cooking, preparation, and farming wither away. Spurred to action, Baxter set off across the country on an unforgettable quest to taste the last great French dishes before they disappear foreverfrom Pariss surviving haute cuisine establishments to the tiny local restaurants that still serve the remarkable regional dishes of Provence, Normandy, Cote dAzur, and more.