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- ISBN13: 9781596913530
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Product Description
A rich, lively book about the upheaval in French gastronomy, set against the backdrop of France?s diminishing fortunes as a nation. France is in a rut, and so is French cuisine. Twenty-five years ago it was hard to have a bad meal in France; now, in some cities and towns, it is a challenge to find a good one. For the first time in the annals of modern cooking, the most influential chefs and the most talked-about restaurants in the world are not French. Within France, large segments of the wine industry are in crisis, cherished artisanal cheeses are threatened with extinction, and bistros and brasseries are disappearing at an alarming rate. But business is brisk at some establishments: Astonishingly, France has become the second-most-profitable market in the world for McDonald?s. How did this happen? To find out, Michael Steinberger takes an enviable trip through the traditional pleasures of France. He talks to top chefs?Alain Ducasse, Paul Gagnaire, Paul Bocuse?winemakers, farmers, bakers, and other artisans. He visits the Élysée Palace, interviews the head of McDonald?s Europe, marches down a Paris boulevard with José Bové, and breaks bread with the editorial director of the powerful and secretive Michelin Guide. He spends hours with some of France?s brightest young chefs and winemakers, who are battling to reinvigorate the country?s rich culinary heritage. The result is a sharp and funny book that will give Francophiles everywhere an entirely new perspective?political, economic, personal, and cultural?on the crisis in the country and food they love.
Customer Review:A2DDVD6SPKZOZK
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting read, a little too well researched
As a wine enthusiast, Francophone and pseudo-foodie, I was eager to get an advance copy of Au Revoir to Food, Wine and the End of France. Because it was not a finished version, it was rife with typos and missing information, which made it hugely challenging to get through. However, you folks will be buying the final copy, so you won't be stymied by those issues.
However, the book is so heavily researched and full of specific tidbits of information that it gets bogged down in the details. I had a hard time keeping track of the many chefs Michael Steinberger interviewed and restaurants he visited. Too many facts, dates, names, etc. In one way, that information seems relevant and possibly necessary, but as I was reading this for my own edification and not a school assignment, I would have preferred less data. It does read somewhat like a textbook in many areas, and it is laborious to get through, typos or no.
When Steinberger instead tells anecdotes, gives his impressions of the chefs and other experts (quite a few probably won't speak to him again!), and shares their input on what's wrong with French cuisine (hint: mostly a bureaucratic government that seriously gets in the way, coupled with a society that's become too busy to appreciate good food), the book becomes far more readable and enjoyable. Each chapter focuses on a different aspect of French cuisine: the history of French cuisine, the impact of the economy and the government's policies, the famed/dreaded Michelin Guide, the role of racism in the restaurant business, the wine and cheese industries, the threat from Spanish and other foreign cuisines, infamous chefs such as Paul Bocuse and Alain Ducasse, etc. No stone is left unturned, and it is a thorough treatise of the topic.
If you are a culinary professional or layperson with a deep interest in the topic, you would gain a lot from reading this book. If you are merely curious or just have an above-average interest, you are probably better off reading one of the many articles that resulted from Steinberger's book publicity tour (there's one on NPR's Web site). I do have a deeper appreciation of how tough French culinary artisans have it over there, and quite a bit more disdain for their government than before (and I am a serious Francophone who wants to live there), but I felt like this a real chore to get through and wouldn't necessarily recommend it.
Customer Review:A25BP96HQCWOU0
Rating: 
Summary: Review of reviewers
The last time I looked at this site there were about 20 reviews. I don't know where to start and I haven't even finished more than a third of the book! But reading these reviews begs a response from a non-American (because all the reviews I have read so far are by Americans). As an Australian who has lived 10 years in Paris (and in the UK and in San Francisco) I consider myself fairly open to other views and cultures. But the amazing narrowness of views expressed here and by the author is indicative of what is wrong with America today (apologies if there are some new reviews with alt viewpoints).
First, not a single one of you (Americans) has apologized for inflicting McDonalds on the world, not to mention on France, which should be considered a crime against humanity. One has to state the obvious, that no culture or people are going to be able to resist the billions of dollars of advertising such multinationals invest. This fastfood phenomenon is clearly a significant part of what is making the modern world unhealthy yet it seems unstoppable. In Australia McDonalds is often the top advertiser on TV by value and they are relentless--their top PR person recently explained their strategy of making an unprecedented 120 different ads in a single year. They also invest hugely in acquiring the best sites. Nothing can resist this onslaught. As to pleading that McDo single-handedly and purely out of their community spirit is bringing about opportunity for ethnic minorities in France.....purlease. Next they will claim they are the reason why Obama is president! And MacJobs are going to save world youth!
I can also correct Steinberger's slight twist of the history of the burger chain in France--at least as I remember it from when I lived there. The author claims McDo took over the franchise when the local French franchisee was failing. Actually it is the opposite--France was the only market in the world where McDo decided they did not want to directly own the franchise operation since they judged it was unlikely to be very successful. But it turned out to be successful and then they went to court to recover the franchise and the name (the then owner still exists as one of the other big burger chains in France--the signage changed overnight in the early 80s). Also with 75 million visitors each year, the early days were survivable without necessarily relying solely on persuading French to try them. There are entire industries in France that rely upon American tourists. How many of these reviewers have visited McDo in France, and thereby undermined the very thing they would at other times claim they come to France for?
Second, while there is some truth to the remarks about the wine industry, it is a rather strangely twisted story. Consumption of wine has indeed fallen more than 50% but that is considered a success by most people, except perhaps some wine makers--but even that is probably not true. It is a consequence of both prosperity (drinking less but better wines) and strong public policy to reduce consumption of poor quality wines that caused excess alcohol-related disease (liver etc) and social problems. Coincident with this drop of production of poor quality wines has been an improvement in quality of all wines, and yes, in no small part due to influence of the New World (including the Aussie Flying Winemakers). If there is a wine crisis it is still that too much is produced and unlike several decades ago, it is a surfeit of better quality wines rather than the cheap rotgut of old. But France remains number one or two (with Italy) in the world for wine consumption, production and export so a little perspective here (and to toot my chauvinistic horn, tiny Australia is 4th in export trade, USA is 6th and please watch the Mondovino DVD and decide whether you want an American--or even Australian--corporate takeover and blandizing of the wine industry).
Third and possibly the most significant issue I take with Steinberger is the basic premise of the argument. He explains well the tyranny of the Michelin Guide and it is interesting that many top chefs are now trying to disengage from it. But Steinberger seems to be part of this tyranny--of "expert" opinion. I don't know whether I am convinced that what happens in the top few percent of restaurants that strive for "exceptional" cuisine, actually flows down to the rest of the industry. For myself, while I have been to many a fancy restaurant (almost always with foreign visitors and on expense account--you see the problem?) I am not sure I have ever been to a starred one. And I honestly do not feel deprived. I am not in the least interested in either reserving a year in advance and then paying a month's salary for the experience (though neither of these things is the truly key factor, see below). Thus I will never know how good Gordon Ramsay (at Versailles--all the easier to rip off those dumb American tourists that flock there) and other celebrity starred chefs really are.
My advice to visitors was always: first, Paris is not the greatest eating experience in France but secondly, avoid rated restaurants--who needs the queues (lines), the hassle and the cost--and instead just seek out what looks authentic and appears to have mostly local clientele rather than tourists. The faltering status of bistros and brasseries is serious but in fact just recently the TVA tax has been reduced to the same as takeout food so let's hope...(is it possible Steinberger's book had some influence; kudos to him if so). But most of all get out of Paris because in my opinion the astounding thing about France is the overall dining experience of provincial cuisine freed of all the pretension of pleasing critics or the tourist trade. I am not totally convinced this part of French cuisine has fundamentally changed much at all. The notion that nouvelle cuisine is what introduced the whole thing of fresh and local ingredients is highly suspect. I mean what were restaurants doing before (when refrigeration was less common) and did all those food markets spring up since the 70s, I don't think so. If one reads MFK Fisher (Dijon, now there is a town to eat well in! and just 40 mins on the TGV from Paris), Elizabeth David or even Julia Child, it all seems to be there from much earlier last century, long before the experimentalists (nouvelle etc) and foodie industry got going. The difference between Child and David is instructive about the American approach--to eating and life in general. The JC books are mere recipes while David wrote more a guide to the philosophy of the sensual arts of cooking and eating. It is good that Americans have Child to read but they would be better off learning deeper lessons from Elizabeth David or Fisher who get to the true heart of the matter.
I suspect what Steinberger is documenting is actually a world trend that, despite the wild success of people like Ramsay and Ferran Adria (and save me, this nonsense of hitech will pass), the notion of dollar-, novelty- and celebrity-based restaurants may be at its peak. It makes snese that it burns out first in the country where it began. It relies upon the loose money that has now been partly wiped away by the American experiment in utterly irresponsible capitalism, and on the gullible food tourist, and the critic industry of which Steinberger is a part.
I could write a book on it, but the most egregious part of his book is the ludicrous and shallow -and utterly American--analysis of why France is "in decline". Well, they are commies aren't they? I doubt that he would quite write the same stuff today. Still the sixth largest economy in the world. Best nation for healthcare five years in a row? World's best public transport? Number one in low-carbon economy. And still, in my opinion, vastly better cuisine and day-to-day eating by most citizens than the USA or most places. Are not you Americans surely getting a tiny little clued-in that it is not so good to allow the top 5% to own 90% of your country's wealth and that this obsession with the greatest or best or most expensive, and constant craving for novelty is a bit/lot unhealthy--like knowing the cost of everything is different to understanding the value of something.
Finally my advice to Americans who want to enjoy France--ok after you have "done" the adult Disneyland of Paris--rent a Gite for a month in almost anywhere in the country (South and Southwest is my fave but not Provence which has been ruined by Americans --oh, ok also Germans, Brits etc.), and throw out your bloody guides, turn off the Blackberry and chill. Just try the different local restaurants and use your nose in the bigger towns etc. Visit the food markets, vineyards and sure the chateaus and cathedrals (but they all look alike after a while and that is not what you will remember) and replace the Dan Brown/Stephanie Meyer for Elizabeth David. Maybe you might overcome your crippling cultural heritage!
Customer Review:A1XIDKCJ7SOVXP
Rating:
Summary: Sincere, but just a collection of writings
Based on the books titles I expected some sustained argument that there really is a problem in France. We get some anecdotal evidence, which I don't dispute. I wanted to have a bit more on what the actual problem is in the author's mind. However, after a couple of chapters I realise that we are not going to get more depth on that issue. Instead we get a collection of rewritten articles about various food topics. The essays all describe some kind of decline of French food. I call this a biased sample. There surely are restaurants on the rise as well. Talking to them might have given the author a more nuanced picture.
The author has maybe over a ten year period interviewed a number of people in French gastronomy and there are some interesting bits of information for the person really interested in French haute cuisine. The essays are mostly very readable as long as you don't expect a detailed analysis of the decline of French food.
The book is a very easy read, but I would not recommend it generally.
Customer Review:A2AC6GQ24S45GA
Rating: 
Summary: inside gastronomy
I got this book because my wife spent a number of years living in France and I thought she would find the cultural story interesting, and I would learn a bit more about the culture she lived in. I realize I was a bit naive in that hope. Not that this is a bad book--or rather not that it's a bad book for a particular audience. I was hoping it was the sort of book that has a narrow theme, but in that narrow theme invites a broad audience to learn, to grow, to understand, giving insight into the broader cultural forces at work on this particular issue.
That's what I was wanting, and I shouldn't judge a book based on my expectations. So, while I was disappointed, that doesn't mean this is a bad book. Rather, it's a bit "inside baseball", no doubt quite interesting for those people who have a lot more background with, interest in, and opinions on the state of high cuisine in France and elsewhere. For those who do, no doubt this will be extremely interesting, and insightful. I didn't feel like I had the experience or interest to stay focused on the various issues and topics and people involved. The writing was not particularly inviting to the outsider, even as it is certainly well-written.
Customer Review:A2TTHN1UMO82VY
Rating:
Summary: Nice
I was interested in the topic of this novel the food, Love and France of course, but it wasn't what I tough it will be, any way the story is good but sometimes for me was boring, maybe by the title I was expecting something different.
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