The Perfect Meal: In Search of the Lost Tastes of France

Some writers have all the fun. John Baxter, an expat twenty-year Paris-ite and writer, decides to set off around France in search of all the wonderful classic French dishes which are gradually becoming extinct. He seeks out kir and pineau and pastis and absinthe. He looks for the very best caviar. He samples macarons and cannelé and madeleines. He checks out truffles and lamphrey eels and bouillabaisse and soupe à l'oignon (onion soup) and even le bœuf en broche (an ox on a spit).

Even I, who love books more than real life at times, know the limits of reading. And this is where even a bibliophile must draw the line; I wish I could have been with traveling with John Baxter on his real journey, eating these amazing foods and dallying about the country with him. It is not to be, sadly. But this book, with Baxter's little sidetrip stories about the cook who committed suicide when his meal crashed and burned and the time Paris-under-siege had to eat zoo animals, is a lovely consolation prize.