Bread of Three Rivers [Hardcover]

Sara Mansfield Taber (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 16, 2001

In the spirit of A Year in Provence comes the romantic tale of a woman, a baker, and their loaf "[T]he printed page alone will evoke the crackling noises and the toasty aroma of cooling loaves in Jean-Claude Choquet's boulangerie."
—William Castle, The Boston Globe

Overcome by a passion for French bread, Sara Mansfield Taber travels to Brittany in search of a loaf that, like the lifestyle which must surely accompany it, is perfect in its simplicity. After many months of seeking, she tears off a hunk of pain trois rivières made by Gold Medal Baker Monsieur Jean-Claude Choquet of Blain, Loire-Atlantique. It "smelled like heaven and tasted a mile deep." It tasted honest. Here was her loaf.

A deliciously satisfying mixture of history, science, travel narrative, and romance (could anything be more powerful than bread love?), Bread of Three Rivers reminds us that nothing, no matter how basic, is as simple as it would seem.

"Bread of Three Rivers . . . is a work dripping with charm and more importantly is a homage to artisan French baking and the culture that sustains it."
—Sophie Herron, Slow Food

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Frustrated with the hectic Washington, DC, lifestyle and disappointed with the perpetually busy lives of Americans, Taber attempts to find delight in a simple, honest loaf of French bread. As many others before her, she flees to France to immerse herself in the cuisine of the country and to write about it. Unlike others, she concentrates solely on the search for "a wonderful French loaf" and the story behind it. Traveling across France to research each ingredient salt, wheat, water, and yeast she interviews the individuals who provide each ingredient to the baker of her perfect loaf. What results is a romanticized book that is equal parts history, travel narrative, and culinary scientific process. A former university professor and participant in the 1996 Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, Taber has written a literary title filled with metaphor, but her irritation with the American way of life and its global influence detracts from what is an otherwise fascinating look into the complexities of seemingly mundane ingredients. Readers interested in food writing are more likely to be entertained by Peter Mayle's French Lessons (Knopf, 2001). Recommended for larger collections. Pauline Baughman, Multnomah Cty. Lib., Portland, OR
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Nothing epitomizes the French lifestyle more than a loaf of bread fresh from the local bakery. How can something so distinctive be made from only flour, water, salt, and yeast? Taber assesses the state of contemporary French bread by visiting an artisanal bakery and some producers of those four ingredients. She spends days at a celebrated Breton boulangerie, uncovering the traditions and techniques of producing an incomparable, crusty loaf. She proceeds to the miller of the bakery's flour and, to her surprise, discovers that much of the wheat comes from the U.S. She visits the pumping station that supplies the bakery with water from the local aquifer. She tours the factory that grows the high-quality yeasts used by the bakery. Her most extensive investigations occur where generations of workers employ elaborate series of sluices and ponds to extract the finest salts from seawater. The ingredients and the baking of French bread are threatened by technological advances and the nascent world economy, whose effects on the foundation of the French diet may be profound. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Beacon Press; 1ST edition (October 16, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807072389
• ISBN-13: 978-0807072387
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #946,313 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Delicious reading, fascinating from page 1 to the end, October 14, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Bread of Three Rivers (Hardcover)

I loved this book! It is a wonderful read, the language always fresh, and the author's insights wise, sometime sad, but always big hearted. I learned a lot about modern-day France, but also salt, yeast, water, wheat -- and how the whole world is kneaded into something as simple as a good loaf of bread.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Much more than "bread alone", February 15, 2008

By 

Patricia Linderman - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bread of Three Rivers (Hardcover)

This book offers a fascinating exploration of the sources of French bread, taking the reader to meet vivid and sympathetic figures such as a traditional village baker and his family, "salt farmers" who rake salt from shallow pools by the sea, and the engineers who operate an ultra-modern yeast factory. But moving far beyond "bread alone," it is also full of profound insights into family life, traditional vs. globalized culture, and the meaning of work in a human life. I highly recommend it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Love this book!, June 10, 2010

By 

S. Howard (Centerville, OH United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Bread of Three Rivers: The Story of a French Loaf (Paperback)

The research for this book appears to have been done in the late 90's and along with the story of a loaf of French bread, it is a commentary on our ever changing world and the struggle to keep things as they are. I can only imagine how much further things have changed 10+ years on. It is a touching story of several families and their involvement, sometimes for many generations, with the production of the ingredients that go into French bread and the making of that bread. I particularly enjoyed the baker's story. It definitely is not an easy life. This book provides quite a lot of insight on just what goes into French bread. Good read if you like bread and/or France.