FORUM

Let's Eat France was on one of those top 10 foodie book lists of 2018. There were rave reviews, so I sent off for it.

Curiously there were references to the weight of the book - all explained when it arrived. It's a 3 kg tome - so you can combine weight-lifting whilst indulging in a veritable potpourri of info about all manner of things related to French food. The author is Francois-Regis Gaudry (and friends)

The book is beautifully produced - full of colour and the editorial is seriously encyclopaedic. It's wonderful for dipping in to - recipes, history, biogs, food trivia.

Let the publisher do the hard sell -https://www.workman.com/products/lets-eat-france

I love this book - just dipping in at random leads down all manner of foodie routes. The ultimate recipe for quiche lorraine, the family history of sauces, the Paris of Ernest Hemingway, the typical French table as seen through art - just a few examples of the vast range of topics contained in this huge tome.

I ordered it via Amazon UK. The English version was published in October 2018; the original, I think, must have been in French : On Va Deguster: La France was published in November 2017.

A great book for lovers of French food and all that surrounds it!

3kg book about French cuisine, I am in! I have ordered my copy, thanks for the tip

I have ordered my copy,

Sus, have you got it yet?

I love dipping in to it at random.

Helen, thank you SO much for recommending this book, my husband and I love it! It is a delight to just open it on any page and find some new recipes and stories to go with it. Have you found the bat curry yet?

Nooooooooo. Bat curry? Seriously?

Bat curry ? That's one I've still to find....

Given that so much of the content comes from a TV series I went looking on YouTube to see if M. Gaudrycould be seen in action. Et voila...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOnft18iEzY

He's a man who definitely who enjoys his food and the facts around it.

Apparently bat curry is the local favourite in the Seychelles. Anybody interested, here is the recipe

" La chair de la chauve-souris marine dans du vinaigre blanc et du citron pendant trois heures, puis est cuite vingt minutes dans une marmite avec oignons, tomates, feuilles de cannelle, gingembre, ail, curcuma et garam masala. Plein de petit os, une texture proche du lapin, un goût de poulet." Enjoy!

Another interesting fact: A Dumas had collected some 3000 recipes (all tried and tested himself) and published them in "Le grand dictionnaire de cuisine" apparently ... "Convaincu que sa réputation culinaire surpasserait un jour sa réputation littéraire"... rather news to me!

and of course a whole page on "Le Best of des Sauces Junk" featuring ketchup, HP, Marmite and Branston Original

I haven’t bought a bottle of HP sauce in decades (through lack of opportunity rather than snobbery).But it used to have (maybe still does) a spiel on the label in French: “cette sauce de haute qualité agrémente tous vos plats etc etc”

But I’m the sort of saddo who used to read cereal packets.

I think that it was reading and working through the translation of the French on the back of an HP bottle as a young child that lead me to a lifetime of in-depth French study, teaching, and ultimately living in France. And, bien sûr, I'm still enjoying HP on my bangers and mash

My husband bought me the wonderful
‘Let’s Eat France’ for my birthday. It is such an amazing book- and the tarte tatin Camembert has been a great hit! Thank you for the recommendation.
Nicki