A Pig in Provence: Good Food and Simple Pleasures in the South of France
Author: Georgeanne Brennan
Georgeanne Brennan moved to Provence in 1970, seeking a simpler life. She set off on her many adventures in Provençale cuisine by tracking down a herd of goats, a cool workshop, some rennet, and the lost art of making fresh goat cheese. From this first effort throughout her time in Provence, Brennan transformed from novice fromagère to renowned, James Beard Foundation Award–winning cookbook author and food writer.
A Pig in Provence is the story of how Georgeanne Brennan fell in love with Provence. But it’s also the story of making a life beyond the well-trodden path and the story of how food can unite a community. In loving detail, Brennan tells of the herders who maintain a centuries-old grazing route, of the community feast that brings a town to one table, and of the daily rhythms and joys of living by the cycles of food and nature.
Sprinkled with recipes that offer samples of Brennan’s Provençale cooking, A Pig in Provence is a food memoir that urges you to savor every morsel.
The New York Times - Pamela Paul
With her historian's appreciation for fading and bygone traditions, Brennan offers fascinating accounts of the mass sheepherding known as transhumance and the habits of the itinerant food purveyors of the Provenзal hinterlands. She revels equally in the preparation and consumption of the regional cuisine, whether it's chocolate cake moistened with pig's blood or le grand aпoli, a local festival in which snails and vegetables are doused in garlic and olive oil and gobbled up at communal tables. "In listening to people recount their food memories around a table, I've seen their eyes glow and their body language soften with the telling of the taste, smell and texture of a beloved dish." You can almost hear her lips smacking.
See also: Managing in the Global Economy or Irrestible Empire
Candyfreak: A Journey through the Chocolate Underbelly of America
Author: Steve Almond
A self-professed candyfreak, Steve Almond set out in search of a much-loved candy from his childhood and found himself on a tour of the small candy companies that are persevering in a marketplace where big corporations dominate.
From the Twin Bing to the Idaho Spud, the Valomilk to the Abba-Zaba, and discontinued bars such as the Caravelle, Marathon, and Choco-Lite, Almond uncovers a trove of singular candy bars made by unsung heroes working in old-fashioned factories to produce something they love. And in true candyfreak fashion, Almond lusciously describes the rich tastes that he has loved since childhood and continues to crave today. Steve Almond has written a comic but ultimately bittersweet story of how he grew up on candy-and how, for better and worse, the candy industry has grown up, too.
Candyfreak is the delicious story of one man's lifelong obsession with candy and his quest to discover its origins in America.
The New York Times - Kate Ja.cobs
…p; for the most part, Almond goes at the subject as if he were a giddy 5-year-old, creating an entertaining book full of repeatable tidbits about the candy industry.
Publishers Weekly
The appropriately named Almond goes beyond candy obsession to enter the realm of "freakdom." Right up front, he divulges that he has eaten a piece of candy "every single day of his entire life," "thinks about candy at least once an hour" and "has between three and seven pounds of candy in his house at all times." Indeed, Almond's fascination is no mere hobby-it's taken over his life. And what's a Boston College creative writing teacher to do when he can't get M&Ms, Clark Bars and Bottle Caps off his mind? Write a book on candy, of course. Almond's tribute falls somewhere between Hilary Liftin's decidedly personal Candy and Me and Tim Richardson's almost scholarly Sweets: A History of Candy. There are enough anecdotes from Almond's lifelong fixation that readers will feel as if they know him (about halfway through the book, when Almond is visiting a factory and a marketing director offers him a taste of a coconut treat, readers will know why he tells her, "I'm really kind of full"-he hates coconut). But there are also enough facts to draw readers' attention away from the unnaturally fanatical Almond and onto the subject at hand. Almond isn't interested in "The Big Three" (Nestle, Hershey's and Mars). Instead, he checks out "the little guys," visiting the roasters at Goldenberg's Peanut Chews headquarters and hanging out with a "chocolate engineer" at a gourmet chocolate lab in Vermont. Almond's awareness of how strange he is-the man actually buys "seconds" of certain candies and refers to the popular chocolate mint parfait as "the Andes oeuvre"-is strangely endearing. (Apr. 9) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
Lynn Evarts - VOYA
Almond is obsessed with candy. He claims that not one day of his life has passed when he has not had a candy bar. He takes his obsession on the road and details for readers his travels to small candy factories around the country, encouraging others to engage in his candy feast. He visits the home of the Idaho Spud, the Goo Goo Cluster, Valomilk, and the five Star Bars. On his way, he entertains readers with candy trivia and his longing for Caravelle candy bars. Peeps, Chuckles, Jordan Almonds, and Circus Peanuts are included in his list of MWMs (mistakes were made), products that never should have been candies in the first place. Almond's sense of humor and his encyclopedic knowledge of candy makes this book an enjoyable trip across the chocolate-covered countryside. He is fanatical in his interest, and he quickly pulls readers into his obsession, making a trip to the candy counter a necessary result of reading. Young adults will feel his passion and most likely will begin searching for the elusive Violet Crumble and Twin Bings. Although not for everyone, this book will touch teens who appreciate the eccentric, and they will love Almond and his candy crusade. VOYA Codes 4Q 2P S A/YA (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; For the YA with a special interest in the subject; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12; Adult-marketed book recommended for Young Adults). 2004, Algonquin, 280p., Ages 15 to Adult.
Library Journal
A former journalist, Almond (creative writing, Boston Coll.; My Life in Heavy Metal) is obsessed with candy; it shaped his childhood and continues to define his life in ways large and small. Fascinated by the emotional bonds that people develop with their childhood favorites, Almond began a journey into the history of candy in America and discovered a lot about himself in the process. Once hundreds of American confectioners delivered regional favorites to consumers, but now the big three of candy-Hershey, Mars, and Nestl -control the market. To find out what happened to those candies of yesteryear, Almond talks to candy collectors and historians and visits a few of the remaining independent candy companies, where he learns exactly what goes into creating lesser-known treats such as the Idaho Spud. Flavored with the author's amusingly tart sense of humor, Candyfreak is an intriguing chronicle of the passions that candy inspires and the pleasures it offers. Recommended for most public libraries as a nice counterpart to Tim Richardson's more internationally focused Sweets: A History of Candy.-John Charles, Scottsdale P.L., AZ Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
Almond, a self-diagnosed "candyfreak," details with mouthwatering descriptions his visits to the minor league of candy makers who continue to churn out their distinctive products. Claiming to have eaten at least a piece of candy every day of his life, Almond first establishes his candy credentials. He always has at least three to seven pounds of candy in his home; he's stashed 14 boxes of Kit Kat Limited Edition Dark in a warehouse; he has further supplies in drawers in case of an emergency; and at Halloween his haul was between 10 and 15 pounds. But mourning the disappearance of so many independent candy makers-a street in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was once known as Confectioner's Row-and his own favorite bar, the Caravelle, he decides to find out what happened, and what makers still remain. The search, serendipitously fueled by boxes of free samples, leads him to factories in such places as Dorchester, Massachusetts (Necco wafers and candy hearts); Burlington, Vermont (the Five Star Bar); and Sioux City, Iowa, where he watches The Bing, a regional favorite, being made. At each factory he witnesses every step of the process, and always gets to sample the product. He also meets Steve Traino, a fellow candyfreak who has tapped into the nostalgia candy market by buying and then selling discontinued items online, and Ray Broekel, the industry's historian, who has a vast collection of candy memorabilia, from wrappers to advertising. Almond is impressed with these independent manufacturers, always generous and dedicated, but also realistic about their limitations, both in distribution and longevity. All are up against the Big Three-Mars, Hershey, and Nestle-who have the money and the muscle tokeep the little guys out of the big stores, as well as to steal their ideas: facts that inevitably sour this otherwise delicious celebration of all things sweet. Sweet, never sickly-and quite informative.
Table of Contents:
| Prologue : some things you should know about the author | 1 | |
| The author will now rationalize | 9 | |
| Chocolate = enabler | 17 | |
| In which an unhealthy pattern of dependence is established | 18 | |
| An ill-advised discussion of freak economics | 24 | |
| Night of the living freak | 30 | |
| Mistakes were made | 33 | |
| Caravelle : an elegy | 38 | |
| I [love] Manny | 48 | |
| Feeding the beast | 54 | |
| A top-secret chocolate situation | 61 | |
| The politics of the rack | 66 | |
| The last man in America with Black Jack gum | 72 | |
| The Capo Di Tutti freak | 81 | |
| The love song of Ray Luthar Broekel | 86 | |
| Welcome to the boom | 92 | |
| There are men upon this earth who tread like gods | 100 | |
| Feuilletine, revealed | 107 | |
| Freak fetish | 115 | |
| The official dark horse freak of Philadelphia | 118 | |
| Wee Willie and the Pop-a-Licks rage | 125 | |
| Southern-fried freak | 133 | |
| Chocolate haiku | 140 | |
| Freak retentive | 149 | |
| In the belly of the freak | 152 | |
| The unstoppable freak energy of Mr. Marty Palmer | 155 | |
| Southbound with the hammers down | 173 | |
| The candy bar on your chin | 178 | |
| The marshmallow parallax | 188 | |
| A depressing but necessary digression | 199 | |
| Boise : gateway to... Boise | 201 | |
| Ladies and gentlemen, the Idaho Spud | 205 | |
| Huckleberry, hounded | 216 | |
| American lunch | 224 | |
| How will the Spud survive? | 228 | |
| The past is just ahead | 234 | |
| Remember this name : Banana-Zaba | 241 | |
| A second depressing but necessary digression | 248 | |
| A little hidden bomb in my Idaho Spud | 250 | |
| A few final relevant facts | 254 | |
| Acknowledgments | 263 | |
| Freak appendix | 265 |
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