As a comprehensive overview of French food from fine dining to street food and from Roman Gaul to current trends, this book offers anyone with an interest in French cuisine a readable guide to the country and its customs. In France, food is integral to the culture. From the Revolutionary cry for good bread at a fair price to the current embrace of American bagels and "French tacos," this book tells the full story of French food. Food Cultures of France: Recipes, Customs, and Issues explores the highs and lows of French cuisine, with examples taken from every historical era and all corners of France. Readers can discover crepes from Brittany; fish dumplings from Lyon; the gastronomic heights of Parisian restaurant cuisine; glimpses of the cuisines of France's overseas territories in Africa and the Caribbean; and the impact of immigrant communities on the future of French food. Learn how the geography of France shaped the diet of its people and which dishes have withstood the test of time. Whether the reader knows all about French cuisine or has never tasted a croissant, this book will offer new insights and delicious details about French food in all its forms. Gives readers an easy-to-follow historical overview of French cuisine from ancient times to the present, with more in-depth coverage than is offered by most books on the subject In clear language, explains key terms and ingredients in French gastronomy and cooking Offers a portrait of present-day French food, including fast food, trends, and fusion cuisine Includes information on French overseas territories and influential immigrant communities inside of France Covers both well-known elements of French cuisine, such as gastronomy and fine dining, and lesser-known facets, including the "ham sandwich index" and the French love for Nutella Includes simple recipes for French classics and authentic dishes central to French cooking

Sauces have the ability to transform any food from dull to delectable; they are food enhancers that define national cuisines. They can be savoury or sweet, simple or complex, served as a side dish or presented as the main event. Sauces: A Global History takes readers on a journey from fermented sauces in fifth-century China to present-day cuisine, where sauces that are barely recognizable as such - foams, ices, smokes - are found in the increasingly popular world of molecular gastronomy. This book examines sauce as a globe-crossing phenomenon, a culinary concept that followed trade routes from East to West and helped seafaring explorers add flavour to their monotonous rations. Tracing the evolution of food technology through the centuries, Sauces explores the development of this gastronomic art, from the use of simple bread thickeners to the smooth sauces we know today. It examines the controversies that sauces have created over the years, including debates about salsa overtaking ketchup in popularity and disputes over the Indian roots of British 'Worcestershire' sauce. It also relates the history of American ketchup and Tabasco sauce, which remain globally popular today.For sauce experts and novices alike, this book will encourage readers to take part in the debate over the definition of sauce, and to give sauce its due as an essential part of our eating habits.

Savoir-Faire: A History of Food in France is a comprehensive account of France's rich culinary history. Not just the story of haute cuisine, the book is seasoned with myths and stories from a wide variety of times and places; from snail hunting in Burgundy to beermakers in Paris, who gave us leavened bread, and from cheese appreciation in Roman Gaul to bread debates in the Middle Ages. French cuisine has always featured bread, wine and cheese, but Savoir-Faire shows that it also includes chestnuts, couscous and oysters. The book examines French food in literature and film, the influence of France's overseas territories on the shape of French cuisine today, and includes historical recipes that the reader can make at home.