If you want to read about authentic good French food, don’t read this!

When trying to summarise the author’s message, what comes to mind is: everything in French culture, not just cuisine, but also fashion and manners, used to be more refined and expensive and therefore better. Why? He is not so clear on that.

The first 5 chapters are one long litany of his namedropping of the members of what he sees as the upper crust in post WWII 20th century France, (Dior, Chanel, Balenciaga to name a few) most of whom he (and his wife) knows personally, of course, and the fine wines and truffles they used to feed him (and his wife), plus a smattering of famous expensive restaurants that, in his exalted opinion, ‘did it right’.

If you want to learn about authentic French food at its finest, I recommend reading Elizabeth David. She will not praise and exalt as refined and cultured, someone who has 4 eggs boiled every morning just so he can open up and pick the one that is closest to their idea of egg-perfection, but instead she will teach you how to make real French food and tell you about its heritage and background. Or go to Julia Child. They will both also tell you about the ingredients, flavours and textures, the seasonality and terroir.

If you want to hear someone whine and winge about the much better than now old days, gossiping about French politicians (‘Mitterand never paid for any of the many meals he shared with…’), and attempting to make himself sound superimportant because they were wined and dined by so and so, and looking down on the rest of mankind in the process; look no further.

The reader does the work justice.

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