Picnic in Provence

January 1, 2015
A journalist's account of the unexpectedly rich life she and her French husband made together after leaving Paris for a small town in southern France.When a very pregnant Bard (Lunch in Paris, 2010) and her husband, Gwendal, visited Cereste, it was to see the village that had been home to a French poet and Resistance leader named Rene Char. After they chatted with the daughter of Char's wartime lover, they discovered that her family was about to sell the house where the poet had lived. The pair bought the house on impulse the next day, certain only of the fact that Cereste was "where [they] would become a family." A neighbor's move-in gift of a basketful of homegrown vegetables became the symbol of what would quickly become the couple's organizing principle: food. Not only was it something that, in all its delicious Provencal variety, was one of Bard's "central pleasures." It was also the way she would continue to forge an identity for herself apart from her Brooklyn-born mother and her American supermarket tastes. Through sharing recipes-many of which she includes in this book, as in her previous book-Bard negotiated and built relationships with her French friends and extended family. When she realized that pain from her own childhood was preventing her from bonding with her son, cooking with her child became the way she repaired the rift between them and healed her own heart. Gwendal also found his own salvation in food. Faced with a decision to rejoin the corporate world and become an unhappy "cog in the wheel," he decided instead to open an artisanal ice cream shop with his wife. Like the Provencal food and lifestyle it celebrates, Bard's book is one to be savored slowly and with care. Delectable reading.

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March 15, 2015
Having been wooed and won by a Parisian, Bard discovers the south of France on a quick vacation before her baby arrives. The couple stumbles upon a fairly typical Provencal village, which especially attracts her husband when he discovers its connection to a noted heroic leader of the French Resistance movement. Buying a new home and raising a newborn may be taxing, but having a baby in tow helps Bard win over standoffish Provencaux. Their quaint little cottage quickly becomes a seasonal magnet for all sorts of weekend visitors. Even a bat in the cellar turns out to be useful for eating mosquitoes. As an American Jew, Bard has some insights into lingering anti-Semitism among the French, who refer to Passover as Jewish Easter. Chapters conclude with a simple Provencal recipe or two. Befitting a new mother, Bard includes some kid-friendly creations, such as a quick stir-fry of tiny green beans, and bacon colorfully paired with baked sweet potatoes.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)