The Food and Wine of France

May 23, 2016
The founding editor of The Art of Eating, who was inducted into the James Beard Foundation's Who's Who of Food and Beverage in 2014, shares this extended love letter to French food and wine. Leaving his home in rural Vermont, Behr (50 Foods) travels extensively through France to interview farmers, winemakers, cheesemakers, charcutiers, and pastry chefs about the traditions and evolutions of their methods in the age of agricultural shifts resulting from climate change. Focusing largely on bread, wine, and cheese, France's "trinity of fermented foods," Behr makes a strong case for the ongoing international relevance of French cuisine. He highlights its unique merging of "analytical precision paired with a strong sensuality," as when a refined Champagne is juxtaposed with andouillette sausage, "one of the most earthy and pungent of all foods." In describing the maker of that andouillette (and many more of France's top culinary artisans) as "sober and earnest," Behr could well be describing his purist self. The book is heavy with facts, and its instructive tone is lacking in convivial fizz, but it offers a solid education in France's diverse terroir and culinary methodology.

May 1, 2016
The Art of Eating magazine founder Behr (50 Foods, 2013, etc.) serves as an admirable traveling companion through the world of French cuisine, offering high sailing on gustatory seas as well as grounding in history and broader cultural concerns."France is the greatest country for bread, cheese and wine," writes the author, "and its culinary techniques are the foundation of the training of nearly every serious Western cook and some beyond." However, determining what is definably French is more elusive, given its diversity, global influences, and the fact that there are really two Frances: Paris and the rest of the country. In reintroducing us to French food, Behr's attempts to secure this definition are mixed but generally engaging. He is most successful in his evocation of the spirit of French cuisine, its origins, and numerous ironies, though his chapters could have utilized a more logical progression and less (save for connoisseurs) technical exposition. Still, from classical and nouvelle cuisine to an unparalleled world of wine and fromage, Behr goes behind the scenes to reveal the hows and whys of French food in all its manifestations, each allied to a desire for balance, harmony, and sensual pleasure. The story of French food "is disproportionally the story of food in Paris," the author writes, but he takes us on a detailed gastronomic tour of the entire country, including those regions whose tastes don't seem terribly "French" to outsiders. He also affords readers an informed survey of the finest writers on French food, including the 20th-century critic and author Curnonsky (aka Maurice Edmond Sailland) and the American expatriate writer Richard Olney, while celebrating the minuet danced by server and served in a good French restaurant. French cuisine once was unassailable, the West's finest, but while its influence has diminished even in France--as have many of the dishes that established its reputation--French food still commands a certain fascination, and Behr explores it with appetizing ardor.

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June 15, 2016

Food writer Behr begins his important investigation of France's food and wine with the Dickensian rumination, "We live in a time of innovation and forgetting." It is also in terms of food and drink, a time of great excitement. Nowadays, the general public knows an astounding amount about world cuisines, but with all of this accessibility and focus on creativity, a lot can be missed. Where French cuisine once towered, its influence has shrunk; Behr aims to reinform, asking, "What makes this food French?" Working top to bottom geographically, he explores the ingredients, products, and techniques from the artisans and chefs who sustain the legacy. The disconnect between people and place (or more precisely, the dynamic culinary intersection referred to as terroir) has been the absence of narrative, and Behr's exploration gives voice to the food but also the tradition--from Paris to Province, baguette to croissant, haute to rustic, vinegar to wine, wine to cheese, goose fat to butter. What resonates is that whether a cuisine is defined by its ingredients, techniques, or even the logistical structure of its menu, it is perhaps the story and the telling that remain most important. VERDICT Hangrily recommended--eat first or immediately after reading!--Benjamin Malczewski, Toledo-Lucas Cty. P.L.

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