Immoveable Feast - by John Baxter (Paperback)

About the Book

From the Back Cover

A witty cultural and culinary education, Immoveable Feast is the charming, funny, and improbable tale of how a man who was raised on white bread--and didn't speak a word of French--unexpectedly ended up with the sacred duty of preparing the annual Christmas dinner for a venerable Parisian family.

Ernest Hemingway called Paris "a moveable feast"--a city ready to embrace you at any time in life. For Los Angeles-based film critic John Baxter, that moment came when he fell in love with a French woman and impulsively moved to Paris to marry her. As a test of his love, his skeptical in-laws charged him with cooking the next Christmas banquet--for eighteen people in their ancestral country home. Baxter's memoir of his yearlong quest takes readers along his misadventures and delicious triumphs as he visits the farthest corners of France in search of the country's best recipes and ingredients. Irresistible and fascinating, Immoveable Feast is a warmhearted tale of good food, romance, family, and the Christmas spirit, Parisian style.

Review Quotes

"Enchanting. ... Baxter takes us from perfect moment to perfect moment and leaves us with an appreciation not just for his family, but for the human family, with 'the security and comfort of its table and hearth.' And isn't that our true heart's desire during this holiday season?" - New Orleans Times-Picayune

"Baxter's discerning palate is matched by his gift for charming digression: The book abounds in stories about his childhood, tidbits about the history of food and encounters with characters who seem to have stepped straight out of a French film." - Washington Post Book World

"Fluent, witty and moving . . . the prose invites us to savor and enjoy . . . A swift yet sumptuous read." - Los Angeles Times

"A genial culinary memoir . . . Immoveable Feast is entertaining, often very funny, and surprisingly full of information." - New York Times Book Review