Provence 1970 by Luke Barr- 2016 - 226 Pages

 I highly recommend pairing a reading of Province 1970 with a viewing of the movie Julia and Julia (currently available on Netflix). 

 This is the second nonfiction work by Luke Barr focusing on French food upon which I have posted. My first of his works was Ritz and Escoffier: The Hotelier, The Chef, and the Rise of the Leisure Class. (Both available at the Boston Library via Libby.)

"Provence, 1970 is about a singular historic moment. In the winter of that year, more or less coincidentally, the iconic culinary figures James Beard, M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child, Richard Olney, Simone Beck, and Judith Jones found themselves together in the South of France. They cooked and ate, talked and argued, about the future of food in America, the meaning of taste, and the limits of snobbery. Without quite realizing it, they were shaping today’s tastes and culture, the way we eat now. The conversations among this group were chronicled by M.F.K. Fisher in journals and letters—some of which were later discovered by Luke Barr, her great-nephew. In Provence, 1970, he captures this seminal season, set against a stunning backdrop in cinematic scope—complete with gossip, drama, and contemporary relevance." From Penquin House Press

Provence 1970 includes detailed descriptions of meals and even a few recipes.