Bon Appetit: Travels Through France With Knife, Fork and Corkscrew [Hardcover]

Peter Mayle (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2003

Gastronomy is a wonderful starting point to study France and the French. As the retired school master from Provence says, "The religion of France is food. And wine, of course." And they put their money where their mouth is, spending a greater proportion of their income on food and drink than any other nation in the world. Literally hundreds of gastronomic fairs and festivals take place throughout the year all over France - a frog fair, an hommage to the sausage, to the turnip, to the quiche and the noble Camembert. What kind of person is a snail-fancier? Is there a brotherhood of sausage connoisseurs? How can you devote an entire weekend to the French fry? Peter Mayle finds out and brings to life the people who can get passionate about a frog's leg or a well-turned omelette. Over ten years ago he transformed our feelings about Provence, now he wants to capture the irresistible essence of France herself - and her food.

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Mayle continues to milk (maybe not quite le mot juste considering the litres of wine consumed in the name of research) his Francophile love affair in this gastronomic tour de France. Using the numerous food and wine fairs and f tes which take place throughout the year across France as his pegs, Mayle attends a church service to give thanks for the "breathtakingly expensive" black truffle, savours frogs legs to become a member of the Confrerie des Tastes Cuisses de Grenouilles de Vittel, is inducted in the mysteries of preparing and eating snails at a Foire aux Escargots where he consumes several dozen despite learning that a snail's natural diet consists of a toxic salad of deadly nightshade, poisonous mushroom and hemlock, and celebrates the elite Bresse chickens at Les Glorieuses in Bourg-en-Bresse. And even when he is reluctantly persuaded to check into a health spa, he is fed a diet of "duck, lamb, guinea fowl, pate, cheese, butter, eggs, a little foie gras, potato soup and huge croissants for breakfast". All healthily cooked, of course, the Cuisine Minceur method. As with his Provence books, encounters and conversations with the locals provide fertile copy, and there is much here for the foodie, wine buff and Francophile. But perhaps it doesn't have quite the same broad-ranging appeal of A Year in Provence to emulate that book's million-selling status. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Peter Mayle's trilogy about Provence has sold millions of copies throughout the world. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 233 pages
• Publisher: Diane Pub Co (January 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0756763541
• ISBN-13: 978-0756763541
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,155,332 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Same book, different name, July 9, 2002

By 

Shelley Marshall "Shells" (Miami, Florida USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bon Appetit: Travels Through France With Knife, Fork and Corkscrew (Hardcover)

Not really a review, (although it was quite an entertaining read!) but just to let readers know that this book is the same as that published in the US under the name: "French Lessons: Adventures with Knife, Ford and Corkscrew". Anyone have an opinion (or information) as to the reason for the change in title for the US market?

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More Cheese, Vicar ?, May 26, 2008

By 

Craobh Rua "Craobh Rua" (N. Ireland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bon Appetit: Travels Through France With Knife, Fork and Corkscrew (Hardcover)

Peter Mayle is probably best known for his two travelogues set in Provence - "A Year in Provence" and "Toujours Provence". While "Bon Appétit" is also set in France, it isn't restricted to Provence - it follows Peter's (fairly random) travels throughout the country - basically going wherever his belly leads him.

While British chefs are probably known better for the swearing than their food, their French counterparts are widely viewed as artists. Having spent his early years in post-war England, Peter had come to view food solely as fuel - and certainly not as something you could seriously enjoy. It was a business trip to France, guarding the managerial briefcase, that opened his eyes - a trip that is recalled in the book's opening chapter. His boss, Mr Jenkins, proves to be the stereotypical Englishman - he doesn't have a good word to say about the French, makes no attempt to speak "their lingo" and advises young Peter that, should any further explanations be required, shouting is the best course of action. While there are some who relate very well to Mr Jenkins, Peter isn't one of them : he credits that trip with the loss of his gastronomic virginity, and - if this book in anything to go by - it became the launchpad to a love affair with French cooking.

Peter travels the length and breadth of the country, but doesn't restrict himself to the cafes and restaurants. By the looks of it, there must be any number of food-related festivals. There's a trip to Richerenches for the `Messe des Truffes' - which goes to show you, I guess, just how religious some people are about what they eat. Interestingly, Richerenches started life as a fort built by the Knights Templar. (Doubtless, truffles have something to do with the Holy Grail, the Sacred Feminine and Leonardo da Vinci's entire back catalogue - however, Peter thankfully sticks to the food and avoids the conspiracy theories). He caters for the famous French foods - he attends a Festival of Frogs Legs in Vittel, while he discovers the art of eating snails at a festival in Martigny-les-Bains. Here, he meets the enticing Mlle Coquille, and his education includes a talk on the dangers posed by Chinese counterfeiters. (They're even - oh the horrors - apparently making foie gras). He also attends a cheese fair in Livarot, home to one of the most (reputedly) pungent cheeses in the world. The festivities include the induction of several Chevaliers de Fromage and a cheese eating competition.

Two of the country's most famous wine regions are also visited. The Bordeaux region must be home to the world's most enjoyable marathon. The Marathon du Medoc, run through Bordeaux 's famous vineyards, had nineteen thousand applicants the year Peter visited, of which eight thousand were selected to run. Six thousand of these runners arrived in fancy dress - with France's national champion among the remaining two thousand. (He possibly felt it was worth taking seriously, since the winner apparently gets his weight in wine). For the remaining runners, however, this marathon is all about pleasure. There are over twenty different refreshment stalls along the course...each, as you might expect, offers high energy snacks and mineral water. However, oysters, steak, cheese and a variety of the most appropriate wines are also on the menu - and nobody is out to set a personal best time-wise. "Nowhere", comments Peter, could he "see any sign of the traditional loneliness of the long-distance runner. It wasn't that kind of race."

The trip taken to Beaune, in Burgundy, is for the world's greatest wine auction. Here, Mayle gets to sample the "kind of wine Alexandre Dumas said should be drunk kneeling, with the head bared." I've always loved France myself, but my admiration for some of the region's pharmacies just cannot be put into words. (They actually recommend different wines as cures for various ailments. What a country.)

Even the French take on a spa treatment goes above and beyond what you could ever have dared hope for. Michel Guerard's establishment at Eugenie-les-Bains - an establishment, lets not forget, designed to help people lose weight - has three Michelin stars. Chilled bottles of white Bordeaux, foie-gras, a variety of cheeses, slim, attractive and friendly young ladies who will quite happily power-hose you as part of the treatment...are health clubs seriously supposed to be this enjoyable ?

A very easily read, enjoyable, funny and - at times - informative book. Based on what I've read, there are now several places I've decided to visit...not least a certain restaurant in St Tropez. Absolutely recommended.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Bon Apetit: Travels Through France - Knife, Fork, &Corkscrew, January 6, 2004

By 

Carol Boyd (midwest) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bon Appetit: Travels Through France With Knife, Fork and Corkscrew (Hardcover)

BUYER BEWARE!!! My daughter collects Mayle books. Imagine the disappointment and disgust to find I had purchased this book, only to have it the very same book as "French Lessons", which I had purchased several years before. How was this allowed? Very discouraging and misleading.