Immoveable Feast - A Paris Christmas: John Baxter

By JULIETTE ROSSANT John Baxter muses towards the end of Immoveable Feast: A Paris Christmas (HarperCollins 2008) about his special fascination with dinner parties, specifically Christmas dinner. This is how he ends: There was enough religion in me to see all meals as sacramental, and this one especially. Religion was full of food: bread and wine, fish and fowl, flesh and blood. When Christ felt his time on earth was coming to an end, he summoned his disciples not to a sermon, but to a supper. (p. 258) He excels in describing not only the food, but also the atmosphere and conversations that make dinner parties so memorable. This is a book to read for the pleasure of how well it is written, and how fun it would be to join the characters and explore their world - and eat the feast that John makes for Christmas. John is a marvelous writer who enchants with humor and passion. He delivers an inside outside look at the French and their cuisine in a terrific story. Immovable Feast is a book to give to a Foodie or non-Foodie – anyone who has lived in another land or longs to. At his first Christmas dinner at the ancestral home of his French fiancée, he tells the story of a drunken Australian journalist, George Johnston's tour of France's great vineyards after WWII. He ends the story when a very drunk George is offered the last bottle of 1812 Bordeaux to taste. After he finishes his story that tells as much about his own understand of the French as George's, he writes: I reached the end of the story feeling as if I had just hauled a wardrobe up six flights of stairs. There was silence around the table. Looking up, I caught the eye of Jean-Paul, the elder statesman of the family, who was staring at me down the table. Then he smiled, and lifted his glass in a toast. "Voici un bonne raconteur," he said. Here is a good storyteller. (p/ 28) Tell us another one! Who can stop reading a story like that? John goes on to related how he takes on the task of cooking for his French family and what that entails. It is sprinkled with marvelous French illustrations from his collection. This is a wonderful Christmas gift. Buy this book and read it over the holidays as you prepare your own feast. Previous articles: [Cookbook reviews - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging --> back to Super Chef