A Voyage in the Flavors of Paris: Past & Present

By admin
Jean-Claude Ribaut eleventh book

Jean-Claude Ribaut eleventh book

  Jean-Claude Ribaut, food critic of 20 years for the French daily newspaper Le Monde and GAYOT’s top Paris contributor, has just published a new book dubbed Voyage d’un Gourmet à Paris. The gourmet who made this voyage is also an historian, a sociologist and a philosopher. As we follow his contemporary promenade in the arrondissements of the City of Light, the past revives, the ghosts of Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Proust, Baudelaire, Tocqueville and many other “bons vivants” come alive, and we rediscover why Paris was and still is a “moveable feast.” The evolution of restaurants — altogether relatively recent creations, at least in Europe’s agenda — reflects faithfully the transformation of our societies, of our habits and mores, of our political regimes and of our economies. The past and the present are intertwined. The contemporary part of the book constitutes also a preciously selective current guide for the most significant tables of the capital reviewed with minute details. Jean-Claude Ribaut even reveals some “tours de mains” and recipes of the great chefs as he describes memorable meals shared with them. The voyage is a true encyclopedia of French gastronomy. Of course, as a critic he is opinionated; he posts his preferences and his dislikes with tact and humor. A tasty voyage in the present flavors of Paris as well as its historical gastronomy. Voyage d’un Gourmet à Paris is published by Calmann-Lévy (Paris) in French. € 19.