Provence, 1970: M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child, James Beard, and the Reinvention of American Taste

M.F.K. Fisher guides our story in this group biography of a time and place when a circle of food icons (the Bloomsbury set of the food world) gathered, and-amid friendships, rivalries, and much debate-the American food movement as we know it was born. In Provence, 1970, Luke Barr, grandnephew of legendary writer M.F.K. Fisher, combines reportage and never-before-revealed material from journals and letters to re-create this pivotal moment in culinary history, when Fisher, Julia Child, Judith Jones, James Beard, and Richard Olney collaborated and clashed over the future of food. Would American cookery build on the traditions of classic French cuisine, or would it strive to pioneer new, fresh flavors? Would popular personalities such as Child and Beard prove more influential than rising chefs and critics such as Olney? Fisher chronicled their meals and debates, a food history version of A Moveable Feast, as the major figures in the culinary world convened in Provence for a series of dinners and gossip sessions.