Taste of France or Church Ladies Divine Desserts

Taste of France

Author: Rob Freson

First published by Stewart, Tabori & Chang 25 years ago, this classic tour of France and French regional cooking was hailed as "the season's most spectacular book about food and drink" and has gone on to sell more than 100,000 copies. With 375 full-color photographs, 100 recipes, and a narrative description of the culinary customs of the 14 great food regions, The Taste of France conveys a sense of the color, flavor, variety, and imagination of a meal in France. From Brittany to Lyons, Provence to Normandy, the book celebrates regional cuisine as well as the beauty and traditions of the farms, markets, and tables of France.

Leading European food writers, including Anne Willan, Richard Olney, Arabella Boxer, and Caroline Conran, contributed to a text that serves as a gastronomic guide to the French provinces. Each section of the book includes regional recipes, researched and adapted by Jacqueline Saulnier, a noted French cookbook author, enabling food lovers to appreciate the distinctive culinary sensibility of each area.

With a map of the culinary regions, a text rich with anecdote and atmospheric detail, and gorgeous photography, The Taste of France is a tribute to the legendary pleasures of French cooking.

Publishers Weekly

Explores French regional cooking with close to 400 photos and 100 recipes. (July)

Interesting textbook: Honest to Goodness or RV Cookbook

Church Ladies' Divine Desserts: Heavenly Recipes and Sweet Recollections

Author: Brenda Rhodes Miller

In the tradition of The Black Family Reunion Cookbook, Celebrating Our Mothers' Kitchens, and A Gracious Plenty, The Church Ladies' Divine Desserts brings together more than two hundred recipes, culled from local, church, and family cookbooks. But this book is much more than a compilation of recipes for decadent (or divine) sweets. It honors church ladies, those revered African-American women who have contributed immeasurably to their churches as teachers, mentors, keepers of tradition, and as culinary experts.

A homemade dessert is more than just a sweet finale to a meal in the African-American kitchen. It is a way to demonstrate special affection while underscoring the bounty of God's blessing on the home. And no one more than a church lady is aware of the power of a fine chocolate confection or a down-home bread pudding prepared with love and served with respect.

Author Biography: Brenda Rhodes Miller, the deputy director of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, has written for numerous publications and contributed to The Black Family Reunion Cookbook. The wife of a Baptist preacher, she is a bona fide church lady.

Library Journal

The "church ladies" are the loyal women the author describes as "the movers and shakers in the congregation," the ones responsible in many African American churches for making sure things run smoothly. Miller, a contributor to The Black Family Reunion Cookbook and the wife of a Baptist preacher in Washington, DC, has collected recipes and reminiscences from "church ladies" all over the country. Her text is informative and engaging, and the stories of many of these special churchwomen are often moving. The more than 200 recipes include old-fashioned sweets like Floating Island, perennial favorites such as Strawberry Shortcake, and unusual desserts like Caribbean Bread Pudding. For most collections. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.