French Lessons: Adventures with Knife, Fork, and Corkscrew

The French have a particular way of doing things. They are very big on protocol. This book shares many of these customs with the reader. A wonderful book full of warm stories.

Open this book and you're in for a fourteen course meal, which if you read it through without stopping, might last as long as a typical Provencal lunch, about 3 hours, and you will consume about five glasses of different wines along the way as you conjure up your "Inner Frenchman" and give thanks "For What We Are About to Receive". You'll discover why Frenchmen were called Frogs by the British during the two World Wars -- it was because of their love of eating frogs, something the British turned up their noses on while the French inhaled deeply over the prospect of, as in the chapter, "The Thigh-Tasters of Vittel". Rather than sporting blue noses, the French honor their celebrated chickens in "Aristocrats with Blue Feet". Instead of overdressing for every meal like the Brits, there is a restaurant in the south of France known for "Undressing for Lunch". With cities around the world featuring a marathon run through their streets, Frenchmen converge for "A Connoisseur's Marathon" in various stages of dress and undress annually. Or you might enjoy some bobbing, weaving, and imbibing "Among the Flying Corks in Burgundy". And after stopping for boudin noir, or trying to find some, one might opt for "A Civilized Purge" at a health spa known more for its sumptuous repasts than its Spartan fasts.. . .As Mayle winds down his marathon of fourteen courses through the festivals of France, he divulges as a parting shot, the background to the famous Michelin travel directory in "The Guided Stomach". I had my first set of Michelin Radial tires on an MG TD I bought in 1972, and I wondered back then, "How did a company known for its fancy automobile tires end up making the Michelin Guide?" Now, some 38 years later, I find the answer in a book about eating and drinking -- it is a story about how the rubber hits the road.[page 208] It was 1900, the year of the first Michelin guide to France . . . It is a pocket-sized volume, this first edition, of just under four hundred tightly set, busy-looking pages, and it was given away to owners of voitures, voiturettes, and even velocipedes by the brothers Michelin. They had created the removable pneumatic tire in 1891, and the guide was their way of encouraging motorists to wear out as much rubber as possible by extending their travels throughout France.The Guided Stomach portion of the Michelin Guide was to come later, as there were no food establishments listed in the first editions of the Guide. Getting there alive back then seemed more important than getting there well fed.[page 210] Readers of that first guide were invited to write to Michelin with their comments, and they could hardly fail to have been impressed by the fund of technical and geographical information contained in the little book. But how many of them, I wonder, wrote in to ask that burning question so close and dear to any French heart at any time, but even more so after a hard day on the road. What's for dinner? Because although hotels were listed, restaurants weren't. The guide was, after all, intended to be a survival manual for motorists driving primitive machinery that frequently broke down. A man whose valves and grommets were giving him trouble could hardly be expected to give much thought or attention to a menu. Heretical though it may sound, in those early years, mechanics were more important than chefs.As we wend our way to the end of this guided tour of Mayle's psyche, we follow him and his wife to one of the establishments still alive and cooking since that original 1900 guide. It is a hotel and restaurant in Avignon, Hotel d'Europe.[page 222, 223] Looking through the pages of the 2000 edition, you will find 116 establishments that were recommended in the original guide a hundred years ago. One of these monuments happens to be the Hotel d'Europe in Avignon, not far from us, and we thought it would be interesting to see how it was holding up under the weight of all those years. In fact, the hotel was doing brisk business long before the Michelin brothers discovered it. Built in the sixteenth century, it was acquired by a widow, Madame Pierron, who opened her doors to travelers in 1799. Bigwigs of every description came to stay: cardinals and archbishops, princes and statesmen, even Napoleon Bonaparte. History doesn't relate whether Josephine came, too, but it seems he had fond memories of the place. When he was fighting in Russia, surrounded by officers complaining about the discomforts of war, he showed little sympathy. "Sacrebleu!" he is reported to have said. "We're not at Madame Pierron's hotel."In this famous hotel, Mayle toasted all of us, including you, dear Reader, as collectively we constitute Monsieur Tout le Monde.[page 224] It had been a lovely evening, and it marked the end of a certain stage in the preparation of this book -- the end of that leisurely, enjoyable, and often well-fed process that I like to call research. A toast seemed appropriate. We drank to chefs, particularly French chefs. And then we raised our glasses again to that unsung hero of the table, custodian of the nation's stomach, and seeker after gastronomic immortality, wherever he can find it: Monsieur Tout Ie Monde. Let's hope he's with us for another hundred years.The "Last Course" is like the famous toast, "The King is dead. Long live the King." The next step is for Monsieur Tout le Monde, Mr. Everyman, the intrepid traveler in each of us, to walk in Mayle's footsteps through the muddy field, don a Day-Glo wig for the marathon, dodge the flying corks of Burgundy, and sleep in the Hotel d'Europe where Robert Brown and Elizabeth Barrett spent their elopement. Today the Book, tomorrow the World!The remainder of my review can be found in DIGESTWORLD ISSUE#103 by Bobby Matherne.

I read it quickly, made me hungry, it was humorous, made me appreciate the behind the scenes the hard work that goes into food preparatiom

I love all of Peter Mayle's books.

This is another wonderful book by Mr. Mayle. It is interesting, informative and very funny. I think some critics give Mr. Mayle the short end of the stick, as it is sometimes felt that his books are just "fluff". What's wrong with being entertaining, though? And if anyone bothers to take a careful look, Mr. Mayle is a very, very good writer. His sentences are polished gems, and I would put him right up there with the best novelists in terms of sheer writing ability.If you like France and you like food, you will like this book. Mr. Mayle travels around going to various festivals that celebrate the eating of snails, or frogs legs, or cheese, etc. There are a couple of absolutely hilarious chapers, one dealing with the "beautiful people" being undressed for lunch in a seaside restaurant in St. Tropez, and the other dealing with going to a health spa, French style. (You have the choice between eating off of the low calorie menu or the gourmet menu. Caloric content is not given on the gourmet menu. After all, this is France!)Scoop this book up as quickly as you can and enjoy every bite. Bon Appetit!

Maybe I have read too many of Peter Mayle's books.. This one was about traveling around France to attend a variety of food events and did not focus as much on the charm of the area of Provence that I have enjoyed in his other books. Still, it was interesting and does tell about many varied food events in France.

I love Peter Mayle. I've read everything he's written about his time in France except for his fictional 'Caper' mysteries. Why I saved this one till nearly last I don't know but it's truly the best of the bunch. He seeks out unusual eating and drinking expériences and describes in his inimitable warm, humorous way everything in amazing detail. If you liked the Provence stories you'll love this, maybe even more.

Liked the book

Simply one of the funniest books I've read :)

Mais um ótimo livro deste autor

I love this book which wittily transported me to the sun-drenched land of haute cuisine and liberal libation!

I'm s fan of Peter Mayle. Every book I've read bring humour, plau edication. Makes me want to be there to experience it all for myself.

Funny and witty antics in the South of France with Peter Mayle. I thoroughly enjoyed all his writing and clever observations on the French cuisine, people, and their cultures and daily life. It's Peter Mayle as usual, at his engaging, witty best.