The Perfect Meal: In Search of the Lost Tastes of France

Name: The Perfect Meal: In Search of the Lost Tastes of France
Price: 17.99 USD
Availability: InStock
ISBN: 9780062088062

✍️ Baxter, John

Reader Score

4.6

(1 review)

$17.99

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Regional & Cultural

📚 EDITORIAL REVIEW

“Grab this if you love culinary travel writing and cultural history over strict kitchen blueprints. It suits armchair foodies and Francophiles craving rich storytelling. Quick-weeknight cooks or bakers hunting standard step-by-step formulas will likely be disappointed.

— Editorial Team

Author

Baxter, John

📚 all books by this author →

🏛 Harper Perennial 📅 2013 📔 Paperback ISBN: 9780062088062

📝 Description: The Perfect Meal: In Search of the Lost Tastes of France

IACP Cookbook Award Winner (Culinary Travel)John Baxter's The Perfect Meal is part grand tour of France, part history of French cuisine, taking readers on a journey to discover and savor some of the world's great cultural achievements before they disappear completely. Some of the most revered and complex elements of French cuisine are in danger of disappearing as old ways of agriculture, butchering, and cooking fade and are forgotten. In this charming culinary travel memoir, John Baxter follows up his bestselling The Most Beautiful Walk in the World by taking his readers on the hunt for some of the most delicious and bizarre endangered foods of France. The Perfect Meal: In Search of the Lost Tastes of France is the perfect read for foodies and Francophiles, cooks and gastronomists, and fans of food culture.

💎 Expert review

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🍳

Eatbook Family editorial team

Cookbook desk

Baxter offers a charming narrative that prioritizes cultural context over practical instruction. The book excels at documenting the history of agriculture and butchering in France, making it essential for readers interested in food anthropology. However, it will not suit those looking for straightforward recipes or quick dinner solutions. It is a literary journey into endangered tastes rather than a functional guide for daily cooking. Readers seeking technical culinary advice may find the content too abstract.

✓ EDITOR'S REVIEW

⭐ Reader reviews

The starting rating comes from the team Eatbook Family —

⭐ eatbookfamily.com editorial review Editorial rating 4.6/5

★★★★★

Grab this if you love culinary travel writing and cultural history over strict kitchen blueprints. It suits armchair foodies and Francophiles craving rich storytelling. Quick-weeknight cooks or bakers hunting standard step-by-step formulas will likely be disappointed.

Reader rating

4.6

Based on 1 reviews

Eatbook Family editorial team

Baxter offers a charming narrative that prioritizes cultural context over practical instruction. The book excels at documenting the history of agriculture and butchering in France, making it essential for readers interested in food anthropology. However, it will not suit those looking for straightforward recipes or quick dinner solutions. It is a literary journey into endangered tastes rather than a functional guide for daily cooking. Readers seeking technical culinary advice may find the content too abstract.

❓ Frequently asked questions

No, it reads primarily as a culinary travel memoir and cultural history rather than a standard, heavily tested kitchen guide.

It centers on rare, traditional, and endangered French dishes, ingredients, and old-school techniques rather than quick everyday meals.

📖 Who should read this

📜 Historical context

Deeply rooted in the fading culinary traditions of rural France, this work explores endangered regional ingredients, historic farming methods, and classic butchery arts. The author examines how modern industrial shifts threaten these timeless French gastronomic achievements, preserving a vanishing culture of taste.