Provence, 1970: M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child, James Beard, and the Reinvention of American Taste - Luke Barr

In the summer months in 1970, the great American chefs and food critics (among them M.F.K. Fisher, Julia and Paul Child, and James Beard) gathered in the south of France to reconnect with Provençal cuisine, and to learn to bring it to a hungry American audience. Luke Barr recreates a moment of changing culinary tastes in the American palate: one that would focus on fresh, local, quality ingredients. Yet it is much more than a story about cuisine: it is not just about what we eat, but how we eat it, creating a philosophy of the pleasure and the ephemerality of a good meal. Part nostalgic and part probing, Barr’s is a quiet, lovely book that grapples with the legacies of both Child and M.F.K. Fisher.