Dimensions
156 x 234 x 25mm
When Jeanne Strang and her husband, Paul, bought a house in South-West France over forty years ago, they found themselves captivated by the "old ways" of the surrounding villages; their culture of "self-sufficiency" that had perpetuated well into the 20th century, with its ancient, surviving customs and those that, if lost, were at least still remembered.
This rich and rewarding lifestyle turned on the axis of the peasant year and its deeply engrained rituals of provisioning that lie at the heart of this region's uniquely rich and varied cuisine.
It is, first of all, a cuisine of connections and Jeanne Strang traces these through each Chapter, as different but related ingredients come to the fore in time with the cyclical, farming year, and as each part of the family pig or the walnut tree finds its place in soups, salads, main dishes, confits and snacks.
For the French, this is la cuisine du terroir, literally the cooking of the land, which translates into "earthy", homely dishes that not only celebrate the quality of its yearly harvests but also a style of cooking so rooted in the rural culture that its taste affirms a timeless allegiance to place and history.
This wonderful book displays the entire peasant repertoire of regional dishes, with "the native soil still clinging to their roots" and discloses the region of South-West France where great French food still lives and breathes.
