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A taste of Paris : a history of the Parisian love affair with food / David Downie.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : St. Martin's Press, 2017Copyright date: ©2017Edition: First editionDescription: xvi, 280 pages : illustrations ; 25 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781250082930 (hardcover)
  • 1250082935 (hardcover)
Subject(s): Genre/Form:
Contents:
Part one. Aperitif -- A conspiracy of pleasure -- Californian cuisine -- Delicious and sometimes nutritious -- A recipe for culinary seduction -- Part two. For starters: antiquity à la Parisienne, c. 53 BC-c. AD 500 -- Cryptic culture -- 'Tis meat -- Core samples -- Caesar salad -- Figs and foie gras -- Trimalchio's fête -- Waiting for the barbarians -- The leftovers -- Fat, liverish, and winey -- Ham, mustard, and frites -- They've got attitude -- Part three. Entrées, premier service: medieval Renaissance, c. AD 500-c. 1600 -- Dark or light? -- Scallops and abbots -- Tooling up, dining out -- My kingdom for a pig -- Sense and sensibility -- Of geese and gastronomic theme parks -- Serenely seeking Taillevent -- Ancestral hunger -- Heirloom chef -- Cry fowl -- Crowd pleaser -- The roar of Rabelais -- Joie de manger -- New Rome or new Florence? -- Gullet science -- Parachute kerfuffle -- The Medici "myth" -- The party's over -- Filet mignon -- Part four. Entrées, second service: Medici à la Parisienne, early 1600s -- Bourbon Street -- Deserts and desserts -- Relais race -- Blunt is better -- Royal jackrabbits -- A profession of foie -- Pardon my French; did you say Mazzarino? -- Thicker than water -- Part five. Entrées, troisième service: Versailles à la Royale, 1638-1715 -- Versailles detour -- Order in the court! -- Calorie count -- Hot to trot -- Café break -- Blue mouths and green thumbs -- A cabbage is a cabbage is a cabbage -- Delusions of grandeur -- Le goose is cooked! -- Star suicides continued -- Eat like a king -- Part six. Entrées, quatrième service: ancienne nouvelle, 1700s -- Regency style -- On the menu -- Ancienne nouvelle -- Quintessential reading -- Voltaire revolted -- À la Royale à la carte -- The restaurants revolution -- The original see-and-be-seen scene -- Spring back, fall forward -- Part seven. Entremets, cinquième service: regime change, late 1700s-early 1800s -- Monsieur Patate -- Liberty, gluttony, fraternity! -- Pig's trotters, roast chicken, and salty blood -- A tale of two gastronomes -- Alimentary, dear Grimod! -- Sanctifying the Devil -- Something is rotten in Paris -- Savarin cake walk -- The heavyweights -- The pleasure principle -- Part eight. Hors d'oeuvres: dining out, 1800s -- Hauteur cuisine -- Chef à la king --- The holy hog -- The belly of Zola -- Carnal delights -- Nile cruise -- Part nine. Dessert: modern times, mid-1800s-late 1900s -- Grand Boulevardiers -- Potluck -- Bubble, bubble -- Boil, broil, braise, and brew -- The original wine bar -- Bistro à go-go -- Rarefied and reverential -- Prince versus king -- Curnonsky quipster extraordinaire -- Larger than -- Soft-power cuisine -- Part ten. Digestif: neo-retro-post-postmodern nouvelle d'auteur, 1970s-the present -- Passé present -- Decline and fall -- Bonne nouvelle.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 394.1209 D751 Available 33111008821429
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A Taste of Paris is a delectable culinary history of the gastronomic capital of the world, written by David Downie, the critically acclaimed author of Paris, Paris and A Passion for Paris.

"A joyous romp through time . . . The streets and tables of Paris will never be the same and I could not be more grateful." --Alice Waters

In his trademark witty and informative style, David Downie embarks on a quest to discover "What is it about the history of Paris that has made it a food lover's paradise?" Long before Marie Antoinette said, "Let them eat cake!" (actually, it was brioche), the Romans of Paris devoured foie gras, and live oysters rushed in from the Atlantic; one Medieval cookbook describes a thirty-two part meal featuring hare stew, eel soup, and honeyed wine; during the last great banquet at Versailles a year before the Revolution the gourmand Louis XVI savored thirty-two main dishes and sixteen desserts; yet, in 1812, Grimod de la Reynière, the father of French gastronomy, regaled guests with fifty-two courses, fifteen wines, three types of coffee, and seventeen liqueurs.

Following the contours of history and the geography of the city, Downie sweeps readers on an insider's gourmet walking tour of Paris and its environs in A Taste of Paris , revealing the locations of Roman butcher shops, classic Belle Epoque bistros serving diners today and Marie Antoinette's exquisite vegetable garden that still supplies produce, no longer to the unfortunate queen, but to the legendary Alain Ducasse and his stylish restaurant inside the palace of Versailles. Along the way, readers learn why the rich culinary heritage of France still makes Paris the ultimate arbiter in the world of food.

Part one. Aperitif -- A conspiracy of pleasure -- Californian cuisine -- Delicious and sometimes nutritious -- A recipe for culinary seduction -- Part two. For starters: antiquity à la Parisienne, c. 53 BC-c. AD 500 -- Cryptic culture -- 'Tis meat -- Core samples -- Caesar salad -- Figs and foie gras -- Trimalchio's fête -- Waiting for the barbarians -- The leftovers -- Fat, liverish, and winey -- Ham, mustard, and frites -- They've got attitude -- Part three. Entrées, premier service: medieval Renaissance, c. AD 500-c. 1600 -- Dark or light? -- Scallops and abbots -- Tooling up, dining out -- My kingdom for a pig -- Sense and sensibility -- Of geese and gastronomic theme parks -- Serenely seeking Taillevent -- Ancestral hunger -- Heirloom chef -- Cry fowl -- Crowd pleaser -- The roar of Rabelais -- Joie de manger -- New Rome or new Florence? -- Gullet science -- Parachute kerfuffle -- The Medici "myth" -- The party's over -- Filet mignon -- Part four. Entrées, second service: Medici à la Parisienne, early 1600s -- Bourbon Street -- Deserts and desserts -- Relais race -- Blunt is better -- Royal jackrabbits -- A profession of foie -- Pardon my French; did you say Mazzarino? -- Thicker than water -- Part five. Entrées, troisième service: Versailles à la Royale, 1638-1715 -- Versailles detour -- Order in the court! -- Calorie count -- Hot to trot -- Café break -- Blue mouths and green thumbs -- A cabbage is a cabbage is a cabbage -- Delusions of grandeur -- Le goose is cooked! -- Star suicides continued -- Eat like a king -- Part six. Entrées, quatrième service: ancienne nouvelle, 1700s -- Regency style -- On the menu -- Ancienne nouvelle -- Quintessential reading -- Voltaire revolted -- À la Royale à la carte -- The restaurants revolution -- The original see-and-be-seen scene -- Spring back, fall forward -- Part seven. Entremets, cinquième service: regime change, late 1700s-early 1800s -- Monsieur Patate -- Liberty, gluttony, fraternity! -- Pig's trotters, roast chicken, and salty blood -- A tale of two gastronomes -- Alimentary, dear Grimod! -- Sanctifying the Devil -- Something is rotten in Paris -- Savarin cake walk -- The heavyweights -- The pleasure principle -- Part eight. Hors d'oeuvres: dining out, 1800s -- Hauteur cuisine -- Chef à la king --- The holy hog -- The belly of Zola -- Carnal delights -- Nile cruise -- Part nine. Dessert: modern times, mid-1800s-late 1900s -- Grand Boulevardiers -- Potluck -- Bubble, bubble -- Boil, broil, braise, and brew -- The original wine bar -- Bistro à go-go -- Rarefied and reverential -- Prince versus king -- Curnonsky quipster extraordinaire -- Larger than -- Soft-power cuisine -- Part ten. Digestif: neo-retro-post-postmodern nouvelle d'auteur, 1970s-the present -- Passé present -- Decline and fall -- Bonne nouvelle.

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