A TASTE OF PARIS: The History of the Parisian Love Affair with Food

From acclaimed Paris authority David Downie, a combination culinary history and urban adventure that explores how and why Paris became the world's greatest food city.

Downie ranges from past to present, visiting Parisian culinary pilgrimage sites to seek out the reasons why Paris is such a wonderful city for food and wine, with fabulous restaurants of all kinds, cafes, markets, wine shops, cooking supply shops, bookshops dedicated entirely to cookbooks and cooking magazines, spice shops, caterers, chocolate and pastry shops, places specialized in macaroons or eclairs, and others selling or serving ethnic foods of unimaginable variety. Where and why and how did this cornucopia start? Where did the recipes and the chefs and ingredients come from? Why Paris and not London or Rome? A TASTE OF PARIS promises to be an utterly delicious journey with an acclaimed authority on the City of Light as your guide.

David Downie is a Paris-based writer who covers European food, travel, and culture for scores of magazines, newspapers and websites. His books include A PASSION FOR PARIS (St. Martin's Press); PARIS, PARIS: Journey into the City of Light (Broadway), now in its ninth printing; PARIS TO THE PYRENEES (Pegasus); COOKING THE ROMAN WAY (HarperCollins); ENCHANTED LIGURIA (Rizzoli) and THE IRREVERENT GUIDE TO AMSTERDAM (Frommer's). His writing has been featured in publications such as The Los Angeles Times, Conde Nast Traveler, Bon Appetite, Gourmet, Departures, Travel and Leisure, and The San Francisco Chronicle.