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Provence, 1970: M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child, James Beard, and the Reinvention of American Taste
Author:
Barr, Luke
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Class:
920
Age: Adult
Language: English
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LC: TX715
Print Run: 80000
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ISBN-13: 9780307718341
LCCN: 2013007782
Imprint: Clarkson Potter
Publisher: Crown
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Pub Date: 10/22/2013
Availability: Out of Stock Indefinitely
List: $26.00
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Hardcover
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Physical Description:
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309 pages ; 22 cm
H 8.5",
W 6",
D 1.1",
1.0125 lbs.
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LC Series:
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Brodart Sources:
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Brodart's Insight Catalog: Adult
Brodart's TOP Adult Titles
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Bibliographies:
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Public Library Core Collection: Nonfiction, 16th ed.
Public Library Core Collection: Nonfiction, 17th ed.
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Awards:
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Booklist Starred Reviews
Publishers Weekly Annual Best Books Selections
Publishers Weekly Starred Reviews
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Starred Reviews:
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Booklist
Publishers Weekly
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TIPS Subjects:
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Cooking/Food/Beverages
Biography, Collective
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BISAC Subjects: |
BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Culinary
COOKING / History
TRAVEL / Europe / France
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LC Subjects:
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Beard, James,, 1903-1985
Child, Julia
Cooking, American, History, 20th century
Cooking, American, Philosophy
Fisher, M. F. K., (Mary Frances Kennedy),, 1908-1992
Jones, Judith,, 1924-
Jones, Judith,, 1924-2017
Olney, Richard
Olney, Richard, Homes and haunts, France, Provence
Provence (France), Biography
Provence (France), Social life and customs, 20th century
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SEARS Subjects: |
American cooking, History
American cookins, Philosophy
Beard, James,, 1903-1985
Child, Julia
Fisher, M. F. K., (Mary Frances Kennedy),, 1908-1992
Jones, Judith,, 1924-
Olney, Richard
Olney, Richard, Homes, Provence (France)
Provence (France), Biography
Provence (France), Social life and customs
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Reading Programs: |
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| Annotations |
| Brodart's TOP Adult Titles | 07/01/2013 |
| It was a recipe with more than a teaspoon of controversy, but the final product would determine the future of food in America. Relive the meeting that assembled food world icons Julia Child, M.F.K. Fisher, Judith Jones, Richard Olney, and James Beard. Discover how their debate over America's future food influences shaped the country's culinary future. Letters and journals provide new material regarding the historic meeting. 288pp., 80K, Auth res: Brooklyn, NY |
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| Starred Reviews: |
| Booklist | 10/15/2013 |
| Much like an auspicious conjunction of heavenly planets, December 1970 found the greatest luminaries of the French-American food world gathered in one place. Julia and Paul Child hosted a holiday get-together for James Beard, Richard Olney, Judith Jones, Simone Beck, and M. F. K. Fisher at their Provencal mas. As it turned out, this culinary summit meeting marked a turning point. American cooks had absorbed French technique, and this apprenticeship now approached its end. No longer cowed by French rules and rigorous traditions but grateful for the tutelage, confident American cooks commenced a redefinition of what their native cuisine might become. Fisher, doyenne of American food writers, kept a detailed journal, and her grandnephew, Barr, has plumbed its pages to re-create just what transpired in those remarkable days at the Childs' La Pitchoune. These driven and vivid personalities all come back to life with their quirky opinions, their rivalries, their loves and affections, and their refined palates. Despite the present glut of Julia Child and M. F. K. Fisher books, this little history makes it all fresh again. Knoblauch, Mark. 288p. AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, c2013. |
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| Publishers Weekly | 07/22/2013 |
| M.F.K. Fisher's great-nephew Barr, a Travel + Leisure editor, uses considerable research to recreate a momentous convergence of preeminent American food writers in Provence in the fall of 1970 that determined not only the trajectory of their subsequent careers but the direction of American food culture as well. France, of course, was the training ground for these writers, starting with Fisher and her bold, sensual 1937 primer on eating, Serve It Forth; journalist James Beard and his 1952 Paris Cuisine; Julia Child and Simone Beck with their wildly popular 1961 landmark, Mastering the Art of French Cooking; artist and longtime Francophile Richard Olney and his authentic, passionate The French Menu Cookbook. Yet as of 1970, they were all still finding their voices and styles. While Olney lived permanently in Sollies-Toucas, the Childs and Becks had adjacent country houses at La Pitchoune, and the others were visiting nearby Provencal towns, joined by their longtime Knopf editor Judith Jones, her husband, and a prickly aristocratic couple, Eda Lord and Sybille Bedford. The personalities mixed uneasily, like oil and water, during long, elaborate communal dinners held at various group members' homes. Barr, a felicitous stylist, derives much of his account from Fisher's journal of the time, when she was in her early 60s, living a solitary existence between California and France, and trying to settle on her next literary project: French or American? Barr finds delightful fodder for foodies. (Oct.). 288p. PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, c2013. |
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| Journal Reviews |
| BookPage | 11/01/2013 |
| Provence, 1970, Luke Barr's irresistible new slice of food-culture history, couldn't have appeared at a more promising moment. Cooking is something of a craze these days, and food is very much in fashion. Perfectly aligned with the times, Provence, 1970 features a cast of cooks, writers and critics with personalities as volatile and opinions as ironclad as those of the slightly unhinged chefs we see on TV today. The book's central character is acclaimed food writer M.F.K. Fisher, Barr's great-aunt. Drawing on Fisher's journals and letters, Barr has written a skillfully crafted narrative about the remarkable trip Fisher made to southern France at the age of 62 and the great convergence of culinary minds that occurred there. In December of 1970, Fisher embarked on a holiday tour of Provence and its environs, where she had long before experienced the "first epiphany of taste" that inspired her writing career. As it happened, a few of her fellow foodies were passing the holiday there, too--a group that included the always-genial Julia Child; Simone Beck, Child's demanding, French-to-the-max cookbook co-author; and beloved chef James Beard. Also on the scene: Richard Olney, a French-cuisine genius and relative newcomer to the food world, who was contemptuous of his colleagues--Child especially--and whose snarky, behind-the-back remarks show just how combative the culinary world, at its upper echelons, could be. La Pitchoune, Child's majestic vacation house, served as HQ for the gourmands. There, they cooked, dined, shared gossip and debated America's evolving culinary culture. Barr's fluid, elegant recreations of the intimate meals and earnest discussions deliver a sense of each character's temperament. (Over dinner one night, Fisher, tired of high-toned food talk, raised the topic of American politics. Olney's response was a yawn.) Barr seamlessly shifts points of view, and the result is a marvelously detailed mosaic of clashing ideas, personalities and attitudes regarding food. He finds a point of focus for the story in Fisher. An eminently likable character whose modesty and introspective nature set her apart from her colleagues, she is the calm, still center of the book. Provence, 1970 is a narrative that bons vivants will tuck into with relish, but it wasn't written for epicures alone. You needn't be a foodie to enjoy Barr's beautifully written book. Julie Hale. 320pg. BOOKPAGE, c2013. |
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| Kirkus Reviews | 09/01/2013 |
| In his debut, Travel & Leisure editor Barr revisits a pivotal moment in culinary history with a brio and attention to detail that rivals that of his subjects. In 1970, when ardent Francophiles Julia and Paul Child, Richard Olney, M.F.K. Fisher and James Beard convened in Provence, a pantheon of American food writers inspired by all things French were to experience not only a transition in their perceptions of Gallic primacy, but the first stirrings of a revolution in American gastronomy--a revolution they helped bring into being, fired almost as much by contentiousness as amity. Barr, Fisher's great-nephew, reveals how these encounters within a rather insular coterie happened more or less by accident but at an incendiary time, when American attitudes toward its own culture were alight with change. The author also demonstrates how these writers, challenging themselves to temper nostalgia and embrace new ideas, opened a door to a seductive philosophy of simple pleasures that led directly to today's pervasive "goodie" ethic: cooking as a practical but rewarding art form. Their respective cookbooks and Child's immensely popular TV show encouraged Americans to celebrate their gustatory diveristy, gravitate to fresh and organic ingredients, learn more sophisticated but accessible techniques, and enjoy a growing sense of liberation from old ways--even autocratic French ones. Barr chronicles this demystification process by focusing on how this group of strong personalities reacted to a fortuitous point in time. He does so in such an immediate, inviting way that one feels a member of the party, privy to the conversations, the meals, the generous gestures and corrosive rivalries. The author's most invaluable resource was a 1970 journal kept by Fisher, who emerges as the linchpin of the book. Warmly written, balanced but unsparing in its portraits, and culminating in a touching coda. Barr's persuasive book overcomes the occasional longueur to offer an enchanced appreciation of some groundbreaking cooks and their acolytes. 288pg. KIRKUS MEDIA LLC, c2013. |
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| Library Journal | 09/01/2013 |
| In winter 1970, culinary icons M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child, James Beard, Simone Beck, and Richard Olney all found themselves in Provence, France. This period was a turning point both for these figures and for the culture of food. The previously unquestioned French superiority was losing its grip on American cooking. Fisher and Child especially were growing tired of the snobbery and rigidity of traditional French cuisine. Attitudes in America were also changing: great food no longer had to be French, cooking was becoming more liberated, and chefs began to experiment with fresh, seasonal ingredients. Barr, Fisher's great-nephew, pieces together the events of that winter from diaries and letters, chronicling the dinner parties that took place and the food that was eaten. Readers are also made privy to the dynamics of the group, such as what these chefs thought about one another and the frustrations they experienced. While each figure is highlighted, Fisher is clearly the focus. VERDICT Despite the readable and intimate style, this title will likely be of interest to only the most dedicated Fisher fan or food history buff. Melissa Stoeger, Deerfield P.L., IL. 288p. LIBRARY JOURNAL, c2013. |
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9780307718341,dl.it[0].title
| Review Citations |
| New York Times Book Review | 12/15/2013 |
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