Attention foodies: This is the book for you!
Some of us like to think that the American obsession with fine is recent-and that we are pioneers. Not so. In the 1920’s James Beard was eating his way through Parisian bistros. In 1931, Irma Rombauer first published Joy of Cooking. In 1939, Henri Soule came to the United States to run the restaurant at the French Pavilion at the New York World’s Fair. This spawned the great French restaurant Le Pavillon. In 1951, Julia Child received her Cordon Bleu diploma in Paris. And on and on.
These original foodies were the ones who taught America that there is more to food than convenience; and that perhaps anyone can learn to cook, to eat, to discern good food from great food.
David Kamp had written numerous articles for Vanity Fair and GQ. If you enjoy the writing style of those magazines, you’ll probably enjoy the detailed-filled, but slightly breezy style of this book. But don’t blame me if you, after reading it, you blow your next paycheck at Williams-Sonoma (by the way-Chuck Williams opened his first store in 1956!)
In the USA:
Published in hardcover- Broadway Books-2006
Softcover edition-Broadway Books-2007
La Bibliofille 