La France Gourmande: A Food Lover's Guide to French Festivals by Marolyn Charpentie

From the Publisher

Whatever the season or region, France’s fairs and festivals are a prime attraction for both locals and travelers. Few can resist the lure of bustling markets as regional specialties and mouthwatering delicacies are fervently discussed amid the jostling crowds. La France Gourmande explores the country’s age-old food festivals and fairs, highlighting the diversity of regional products and traditions, from Normandy’s coastal fish fairs to the colorful cherry, olive, and lavender festivals in the south. Traditions, too, are explored, often with the locals themselves, offering a wonderfully evocative picture of French rural life. Each fair or festival features a delicious regional recipe, and the book’s 12 chapters provide a month-by-month companion to events. Complete with a region-by-region index detailing all the relevant information on a particular area, La France Gourmande is gloriously illustrated with color photos of people and places, foods and markets.

Library Journal

American-born travel writer and photographer Charpentier spent over five years researching and photographing France's food markets and festivals. She has divided her book by the months of the year and offers information on three festivals occurring during each month. There is a handy index of festivals by subject-asparagus, bread, chocolate, oysters, snails and frogs, truffles, etc. In some ways, this book resembles Patricia Wells's excellent Food Lover's Guide to Paris and Food Lover's Guide to France, but Wells's more practical guides focus on what to eat and where to find it. True to her travel writer background, Charpentier's book reads like a travelog, with colorful descriptions of customs, sights, and smells, along with photographs of the towns and people, and narratives of her personal experiences in each locale. There are also simple, somewhat informal recipes from each festival. An optional purchase for larger library collections.-Mary Schlueter, Missouri River Regional Lib., Jefferson City, MO Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Product Details

• Table of Contents

Table of Contents