Au Revoir to All That: Food, Wine, and the End of France by Michael Steinberger

The Barnes & Noble Review

Have the French lost their mojo at the stove? Has the toque of big cooking ideas and breakthrough flavors been passed to, say -- zut alors! -- Spain? If so, why? Was it a smug, king-of-the-hill complacency, with the handmaiden of blinkered chauvinism in attendance, that doused the French kitchen’s sizzle? That helped, writes financial journalist and wine columnist Steinberger, though he figures the root of decline is more likely to be found in the shambling French economy. Grand cuisine, with its emphasis on indulgence, has always needed big bucks to sustain its brilliance. Nor was nouvelle cuisine any different, Steinberger suggests: if defiant in its portions, its impossibly expensive, voluptuous artistry was more a palace revolt than a revolutionary turn. As the governments of Reagan and Thatcher toiled mightily to make the rich richer, thus circumstantially helping to bankroll the culinary revolutions in the U.S. and U.K., the French governments of Mitterrand and Chirac were elephantine bureaucratic nightmares, with taxes and regulations seemingly designed to thwart the entrepreneurial spirit. Not just the crème-de-la-crème establishments were hurt: where once 200,000 cafés, bistros, and brasseries brightened the French landscape, tightened purse strings reduced that number to 40,000, and McDonald’s colonized the province of cheap eats. Steinberger, who writes with the leisurely pace of those good old French lunches and a with salubrious measure of humor, convincingly argues that the Michelin Guide made matters worse with its greater concern for the bells and whistles of décor than what was on the plate, coaxing restaurateurs into financially ruinous incidentals, while hyper-sanitized edicts from the European Union slipped a garrote around the necks of artisinal food makers. Imagine a world without stinky French cheese or, heaven forefend, all those French women who don’t get fat; with fast food on the uptick, 40 percent of the French population is now overweight. --Peter Lewis

From the Publisher

A rich, lively book about the upheaval in French gastronomy, set against the backdrop of France’s diminishing fortunes as a nation.

France is in a rut, and so is French cuisine. Twenty-five years ago it was hard to have a bad meal in France; now, in some cities and towns, it is a challenge to find a good one. For the first time in the annals of modern cooking, the most influential chefs and the most talked-about restaurants in the world are not French. Within France, large segments of the wine industry are in crisis, cherished artisanal cheeses are threatened with extinction, and bistros and brasseries are disappearing at an alarming rate. But business is brisk at some establishments: Astonishingly, France has become the second-most-profitable market in the world for McDonald’s.

How did this happen? To find out, Michael Steinberger takes an enviable trip through the traditional pleasures of France. He talks to top chefs—Alain Ducasse, Paul Gagnaire, Paul Bocuse—winemakers, farmers, bakers, and other artisans. He visits the Élysée Palace, interviews the head of McDonald’s Europe, marches down a Paris boulevard with José Bové, and breaks bread with the editorial director of the powerful and secretive Michelin Guide. He spends hours with some of France’s brightest young chefs and winemakers, who are battling to reinvigorate the country’s rich culinary heritage. The result is a sharp and funny book that will give Francophiles everywhere an entirely new perspective—political, economic, personal, and cultural—on the crisis in the country and food they love.

Library Journal

Steinberger, a journalist and wine columnist for Slate, has been a Francophile since he was 13 and ate in his first two-star Michelin restaurant. For years he has been concerned about the decline of French gastronomy, and he's made numerous trips to France to eat at fine establishments and study the French food industry. In chapters that may be read as separate essays, he discusses reasons he sees for the change. Among them are the introduction of fast food, specifically McDonald's, which now is France's largest private-sector employer; the increased government regulation and taxation of foods and restaurants; and the flight of French chefs to the United States and Japan. After over 200 pages of dire predictions, Steinberger concludes that he wants to be back in "the France that I know and hope will endure." VERDICT Recommended for serious foodies who are still fans of French cooking, Francophiles, and students of French social and culinary history.—Christine Bulson, SUNY at Oneonta Lib.

Kirkus Reviews

A culinary expedition through France hunting for the root of the slow decline of the country's acclaimed food and wine traditions. Slate wine columnist Steinberger introduces his subject by asking, "Did [the French] no longer care to be the world's gastronomic beacon?" In 2007, the author traveled to Paris for answers, kicking off his research by interviewing the eminent chef Guy Savoy, then briefly retracing the history of the country's cuisine, beginning in the 16th century. He elucidates how the years under Francois Mitterand and Jacques Chirac, rife with economic stagnation, hurt restaurants, while newly rich patrons in Britain and the United States "bankrolled gastronomic revolutions" abroad. Steinberger also conferred with other famous chefs-including Alain Ducasse-and local makers of wine and cheese, asking for their thoughts on the state of culinary affairs. He illustrates how the dawn of the "Michelin [Guide] era" affected the global restaurant world, and met with the company's current head, Frenchman Jean-Luc Naret, who confided that, contrary to some chefs' suspicions that factors like nice bathrooms boost scores, "What matters is what's on the plate." Though modern French cooking has been the subject of many books, Steinberger's meticulous research and personal hunger for objective truths bring surprising discoveries to light. A chapter about endangered cheeses, for instance, explains that increased standards of hygiene have meant fewer bacteria in milk, a change that has completely altered the production of Camembert. The author also wonders about the impact of France's growing ethnic population on traditional restaurants, a question connected to the larger issue of who orwhat defines modern France and, by extension, its food. An offering of fresh and engaging insights for foodies and Francophiles alike. Agent: Larry Weissman/Larry Weissman Literary

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