Surprisingly thought-provoking and original table talk from the academy.
Perhaps the ultimate refutation to anyone claiming there is a single, simple answer to the question of why France invented and continues to set the world standard for haute cuisine.
While acknowledging that his native soil does constitute a veritable “garden,” Pitte (Geography/Sorbonne) asserts that this is neither unique in Europe nor primarily accountable for French gastronomic predominance. The cultural case he builds, going back to the Roman occupation, touches base with everything from a sensually indulgent brand of medieval Catholicism to a tableau of the definitive gourmand, Louis XIV, dining at Versailles quite alone (except for a daily gallery of gawking citizenry) and an astonishing variety of robust regional cuisines that coalesce over the ages under the cruelly Darwinian dynamics of the Parisian marketplace. While some offhand references to obscure personages or innate ethnic characteristics may be lost on American readers, Pitte easily succeeds in demonstrating that the universal subtleties of the debate, rather than any formal proof, are the point here. Entertaining examples come straight from the historic pulpit in the form of tongue-in-cheek sermons on gluttony, or from the literary mainstream, as when the writer Balzac insists to his guest (perhaps with a wink) that the great wine he has poured must be “lovingly regarded,” sniffed, and discussed at length before any drinking takes place. The author’s geographical perspective enables him to be both seriously analytic and illuminating: one of several map plots, for example, shows how the taste, properties, and even the typical size of every major cheese variety in France were long ago determined by regional agronomics combined with distance (during original development) from the principal market. Finally, there’s a sobering caution about how modern agribusiness practices could compromise quality standards, homogenizing regional input enough to threaten the essential roots of French gastronomy as public indifference within the country continues to deepen.
Surprisingly thought-provoking and original table talk from the academy.Pub Date: April 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-231-12416-3
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Columbia Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2002
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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