Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding! Take Yourself fo the French Countryside...
Review: Michael Sanders spent a wonderful year in Les Arques, a small town in the Lot, a rural area in southwest France. We're lucky that his absorbing memoir takes us along. Meet Jacques and Noelle, who have rescued the restaurant housed in the empty schoolhouse; the local farmers who grow the restaurant's produce and supply its meats; the town fathers who shepherded the restaurant renovation to help rejuvenate the town; and the villagers who give Les Arques its special warmth. This book will transport you to the Lot and you will enjoy the journey immensely.This book adroitly combines fascinating pictures of daily life in Les Arques with discussion of larger themes. Sanders offers keen insights into French rural culture and the economic and social forces that shape the fortunes of farming communities. The difficulties of running a small farming enterprise are formidable in this age of mass agriculture; Sanders' depictions of the farmers' patience, dedication and creativity in maintaining their land and bringing their wares to market are vivid and moving. Sanders's book is also an absorbing travelogue-- you'll learn the ins and outs of touring the Lot region and benefit from the lodging, dining and travel advice contained in an appendix. And armchair gourmands will find a mouthwatering read in the meals prepared by Jacques and Noelle for their fortunate patrons. Buy, read and enjoy-- you'll be transported to a wonderful corner of the world.
Rating: 
Summary: A must if you are planning to visit the Lot
Review: This book is required reading if you plan to visit this region of France. Most North Americans have never really learned about the art (and science) of the production of fois gras, and the I found the chapter dedicated to that subject to be truly fascinating and educational...probably the best chapter in the book. Another excellent section is the discussion of the French obsession with the Michelin star rating system of restaurants. Both of these chapters give you a good look into the French food culture...one on the specific production techniques of one of the very most "French" of foods, and the other a look into the (macro) French psyche of food as a central part of life and culture. This book, along with "A Castle in the Backyard" are two good narratives of life in the Dordogne/Lot region of France.
Rating:
Summary: A Village in the Heart of France
Review: This is a delicately written account of a small village, its local restaurant, and its agricultural life, the village residing in the valley of the Lot river in central France. The book is also the record of encounters with a number of memorable, wise, and (mostly) kind village people and is, moreover, redolent with the aroma of truffles, foie gras, and the dark wine of Cahors. Reading it, one learns a great deal about farming in that part of the world, and about what is required to create a really first rate restaurant. I consider this admirable book to be in the splendid tradition exemplified by M.F.K. Fisher, Freda White, and Adam Gopnik.
| 
