In hindsight, it was probably Ratatouille that started my Francophile ways. Now I’ve reached the level of nerdom that this 1941 copy of The Escoffier Cook Book brings me the same joy as Truffaut or Tati.
There's a bunch of beautiful cookbooks out rn that have recognization (anything from Serious Eats writers + Nosrat) BUT i have to throw this work from David in. It radically changed the way I thought about food.
I mad the french onion soup. It takes a long time and you have to stir onions for like an hour but it feels so good to make restaurant quality food at home. The cook book itself is a classic.
To those who have read James and dug it - I urge you to keep reading more Percival Everett! He’s written lots of other great books. I’ve gotten through 7 or 8 so far (which is barely scratching the surface . . . he’s written like 30 novels). The guy is a really polymath: paintings, poetry, woodworking, etc. The Trees, Erasure, and So Much Blue rank among my favorite of his novels.
