Description: French identity is a matter of taste -- or palate, to be more precise. Food permeates the very idea of "Frenchness" -- from the literary feasts of Marcel Proust to the culinary feats of Julia Child, from foie gras to the French fry. French Food is an entertaining and eye-opening look at the way people cook, eat, market, talk, and write about French cuisine.

More than a book about food alone, French Food uses diet as a window into issues of nationality, literature, and culture in France and abroad. Outstanding contributors from cultural studies, literary criticism, performance studies, and the emerging field of food studies explore a wide range of food matters: the history of French cooking, the intersections of taste and class, the aesthetics of cuisine, French food as nation building, novelists who use gastronomic details to spice up literary personas, and even the sexuality of a French dish. Revealing substance in a French meal beyond mere sustenance, this delicious volume is sure to sharpen your mind as well as your palate.

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