French Lessons by Peter Mayle

And we are off to France! Again! I love Spain and I love Italy, but France is the place that I am drawn most to as a visitor. Reading this again, I am struck differently by it. My MIL sent this to my spouse for his recent birthday and we both read it between then and our next trip to France. She was responsible for my first trip to France, when many years ago my spouse has a meeting in Switzerland and when asked what we should do for fun afterwards she said "Leave Switzerland. Go to France." And with that trip I went from Francophobe to Francophile. When we stopped for gas on the interstate, my very first venture into a French place of business, I understood why the French were so disappointed with America--yes, we have some spectacular natural beauty, but we are decidedly not a place where food comes first. The French interstate gas station had a bakery-like selection of food you could eat with your hands, an espresso machine, and duck confit. Wowza! This author grew up in post WWII Britain, a particularly sparse food culture, and so when at nineteen he was exposed to French food and French culture on a business trip, he was similarly blown away. The book goes on to delineate the things about France that emphasize this aspect of the French culture, and while it is not great literature, it does capture what is truly great about being a visitor there.