- In stock online
From Paris to Provence, the Guardian’s formidable food columnist sniffs out the delicacies that make the French nation the crème de la crème of European cuisine. Armed only with her trusty bicycle and seasoned palate, Felicity Cloake merges travelogue with recipe guide in this mouth-watering account of delightful scenery and delicious food.
Signed Edition
The nation's 'taster in chief' cycles 2,300 km across France in search of the definitive versions of classic French dishes.
A green bike drunkenly weaves its way up a cratered hill in the late-morning sun, the gears grinding painfully, like a pepper mill running on empty. The rider crouched on top in a rictus of pain has slowed to a gravity-defying crawl when, from somewhere nearby, the whine of a nasal engine breaks through her ragged breathing.
A battered van appears behind her, the customary cigarette dangling from its driver's-side window... as he passes, she casually reaches down for some water, smiling broadly in the manner of someone having almost too much fun. 'No sweat,' she says jauntily to his retreating exhaust pipe. 'Pas de probleme, monsieur.'
A land of glorious landscapes, and even more glorious food, France is a place built for cycling and for eating, too - a country large enough to give any journey an epic quality, but with a bakery on every corner. Here, you can go from beach to mountain, Atlantic to Mediterranean, polder to Pyrenees, and taste the difference every time you stop for lunch. If you make it to lunch, that is...
Part travelogue, part food memoir, all love letter to France, One More Croissant for the Road follows 'the nation's taster in chief' Felicity Cloake's very own Tour de France, cycling 2,300km across France in search of culinary perfection; from Tarte Tatin to Cassoulet via Poule au Pot, and Tartiflette. Each of the 21 `stages' concludes with Felicity putting this new found knowledge to good use in a fresh and definitive recipe for each dish - the culmination of her rigorous and thorough investigative work on behalf of all of our taste buds.
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
ISBN: 9780008304935
Number of pages: 288
Weight: 460 g
Dimensions: 222 x 141 x 34 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
'Whether you are an avid cyclist, a Francophile, a greedy gut, or simply an appreciator of impeccable writing - this book will get you hooked. Felicity Cloake's Tour de France is a triumph. It is full of greed and wit, jam-packed with priceless practical information, peppered with a sense of adventure and wonder. I love it.' - Yotam Ottolenghi
'Such a brilliant book, funny, captivating and wonderfully written. I feel like I was packed up in Felicity's pannier for the ride.' - Anna Jones
'An evocative, infectious, and at times utterly hilarious adventure that will make every food lover, and even the most lapsed of cyclists, want to jump on their bike, and on a ferry to France, immediately.' - Rosie Birkett
'Pure delight from first page to last, as if Elizabeth David was whispering one ear and MFK Fisher in the other. Felicity Cloake is the perfect travelling companion - curious, funny, philosophical, and, best of all, imperishably greedy. She writes with self-deprecating humour and evocative grace. This is the best kind of travel and food book - It makes you dream of doing the same.' - Matthew Fort
'A highly entertaining, tough-minded and enchanting book where the spirit of freewheeling travel writing is grounded perfectly with Felicity's sure-fire recipes. I had great trouble putting it down.' - Caroline Eden
'Completely delicious. I scarfed down it down as if every paragraph was a freshly baked croissant. Cloake's writing is as mouthwatering as the food she selflessly eats on our behalf.' - Hadley Freeman
'Her writing always targets the tastebuds with unnerving precision, but 'Perfect' fans are about to discover how much fun Felicity is out of the kitchen. Impossible to imagine better company for this sweary, cheese-happy, gastronomic odyssey. What a ride!' - Rhik Samadder
'Felicity Cloake combines the authority and lyricism of a young Elizabeth David, with the determined eccentricity to eat her way through France on a bike. Brilliant and bonkers.' - Tim Hayward
You may also be interested in...
“Gastronomic odyssey....”
The mouth-watering recipes and hilarious anecdotes about French customs and cuisine are total and utterly delicious delight. You take a perfect culinary road trip with Felicity Clarke without leaving your chair.
I...
More
“Moreishly enjoyable”
I requested a copy of this because my likes and the author’s seem to exactly align, but even if you’re less interested than me in bicycling, booze and...butter, you can’t fail to love this book. Felicity Cloake... More
Please sign in to write a review