Epicure and gourmand Brillat-Savarin was one of the most influential food writers of all time. His 1825 book The Physiology of Taste defined our notions of French gastronomy, and his insistence that food be a civilizing pleasure for all has inspired the slow food movement and guided chefs worldwide. From discourses on the erotic properties of truffles and the origins of chocolate, to a defence of gourmandism and why 'a dessert without cheese is like a pretty woman with only one eye', the delightful writings in this selection are a hymn to the art of eating well.

This beautifully illustrated collection of food writing includes delectable scenes of cooking and feasting from novels and stories, poems that use food to tempt and seduce, and fine writing by and about great cooks. Napoleon famously declared that an army marched on its stomach; less familiar is the idea that great authors were as eager to feed their stomachs as their imaginations. Far-ranging in both time and place, this exploration of literary eating and great writing about food will amuse, surprise, and make the mouth water. The anthology begins with examples of hospitality, ranging from Chaucer's convivial Franklin to Walter Scott's bountiful breakfasts and dinner with Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Ramsay. Next comes eating to impress--dazzling banquets from Flaubert to F. Scott Fitzgerald--and some great fictional love feasts (there is no doubt that in literature food and love go together rather better than love and marriage). Many of our most vivid memories of food in literature were laid down in childhood, and nostalgia is to the fore in such classic scenes as Pinocchio aching with hunger, Ratty and Mole picnicking, enchanted Turkish delight in Narnia, and a seaside picnic from Enid Blyton. A section on distant times and places ranges from seethed tortoise in ancient China to seal's liver fried in penguin blubber as a treat for Captain Scott. Those who relish simplicity rather than excess will enjoy Sydney Smith's delicate salad dressing and Hemingway's appreciation of oysters.

"M. F. K. Fisher, Julia Child, and Alice Waters celebrates the accomplishments and friendships of three women who changed the way Americans think about food and cooking, dining and pleasure." "In a series of three overlapping biographical portraits, Reardon reveals the private lives behind their public personas. Tracing major developments in their careers and quoting extensively from letters they exchanged, she recounts the times and places at which their lives intersected and shares testimonies of the friendship and respect that grew among them."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The Art of Doing Nothing meets The Dangerous Book for Boys in this charming celebration of simple delights. In The Book of Idle Pleasures, the United Kingdom's expert Idlers Tom Hodgkinson and Dan Kieran stand up for the simple pleasures in life . . . by lying down for a nap. With its tongue firmly in its cheek, The Book of Idle Pleasures renounces our world of ever-growing consumer overload in favor of the timelessly true adage that the best things in life really are free. Clever and sometimes all too true in its reflections on 100 simple pastimes--among them slouching, skipping stones, staring out the window, doodling, and, natch, taking a nap--The Book of Idle Pleasures is a charming celebration of simple pleasures for the sake of pleasure itself, making it a soothing antidote for our nonstop culture and an ideal restorative against the costly confusion of our daily existence.

In this debut memoir, a James Beard Award–winning writer, whose childhood idea of fine dining was Howard Johnson’s, tells how he became one of Paris’s most influential food critics Until Alec Lobrano landed a job in the glamorous Paris office of Women’s Wear Daily, his main experience of French cuisine was the occasional supermarket éclair. An interview with the owner of a renowned cheese shop for his first article nearly proves a disaster because he speaks no French. As he goes on to cover celebrities and couturiers and improves his mastery of the language, he gradually learns what it means to be truly French. He attends a cocktail party with Yves St. Laurent and has dinner with Giorgio Armani. Over a superb lunch, it’s his landlady who ultimately provides him with a lasting touchstone for how to judge food: “you must understand the intentions of the cook.” At the city’s brasseries and bistros, he discovers real French cooking. Through a series of vivid encounters with culinary figures from Paul Bocuse to Julia Child to Ruth Reichl, Lobrano hones his palate and finds his voice. Soon the timid boy from Connecticut is at the epicenter of the Parisian dining revolution and the restaurant critic of one of the largest newspapers in the France. A mouthwatering testament to the healing power of food, My Place at the Table is a moving coming-of-age story of how a gay man emerges from a wounding childhood, discovers himself, and finds love. Published here for the first time is Lobrano’s “little black book,” an insider’s guide to his thirty all-time-favorite Paris restaurants.

Compiled from three of Theodora's much-loved cookery books, Irish Traditional Food, Theodora FitzGibbon's Cookery Book and Your Favourite Recipes from Theodora FitzGibbon, this beautiful new collection of over 150 classic recipes will be a welcome addition to your cookery shelf.