Luke Barr is an editor at Travel + Leisure magazine. A great-nephew of M.F.K. Fisher, he was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and in Switzerland, and graduated from Harvard. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and their two daughters.
“The book’s real success is in transporting the reader back to a
pivotal time, in bringing it to life again. It is a nostalgic,
lovely read.” —Boston Globe
“A fascinating narrative.” —New York Times
“Required reading for anyone who fears a little life-upending
change—even if they know change will bring happiness and relief.”
—Oprah.com
“An enjoyable and perceptive group biography that reads as fluently
as a novel.” —The New Yorker
“Barr’s careful presentation of his characters’ trajectories
reveal[s] Provence as an important work of cultural history in the
guise of a foodie treat.” —Slate
“The interplay of these four fiercely independent personalities
makes this book a guilty pleasure.” —Wall Street Journal
“Delightful fodder for foodies.” —Publishers Weekly
“Luke Barr has inherited the clear and inimitable voice of his
great-aunt M.F.K. Fisher, and deftly portrays a crucial turning
point in the history of food in America with humor, intimacy and
deep perception. This book is beautifully written and totally
fascinating to me, because these were my mentors—they inspired a
generation of cooks in this country.” —Alice Waters
“Luke Barr conjures the past and pries open the window on a little
known moment in time that had profound implications on how we live
today. With an insider’s access, a detective’s curiosity, and a
poet’s sensitivity, he illuminates a culinary clique that not only
changed the way we eat, but how we think about food. Provence, 1970
is as much a meditation on the nature of transition and the role of
friendship, as it is on the power of food to unite, divide, and
ultimately nourish the soul. For this a ‘non-foodie’ it was a
revelation—for the connoisseur among us, it may well be orgiastic.”
—Andrew McCarthy, author of The Longest Way Home: One Man’s Quest
for the Courage to Settle Down
“Luke Barr has brought the icons of the food world vibrantly to
life and captured the moment when their passion for what's on the
plate sparked a cultural breakthrough. His graceful prose
provides a thorough, affecting account of their talents and reveals
how their disparate personalities defined the very essence of
French cuisine.” —Bob Spitz, author of Dearie
“Brilliant conversation, dimmed lights, culinary intrigue, urchin
mousse, a glass of Sauternes . . . Luke Barr has written one of the
most delicious and sensuous books of all time. It brims with love
of food and wine.” —Gary Shteyngart, author of The Russian
Debutante’s Handbook and Super Sad True Love Story
“Luke Barr has written a lovely, shimmering, immersive secret
history of an important moment that nobody knew was important at
the time.”
—Kurt Andersen
“Luke Barr has written a wonderful, sun-dappled account of the
pleasures of cooking and eating in good company. With the
deftest of touches, he describes a gathering of celebrated
chefs—including Julia Child, his great-aunt M. F. K. Fisher, James
Beard, and Richard Olney—and the way their American palates
transformed French culinary rules for a homegrown audience. Both a
meditation on the power of friendship and the uses of nostalgia,
Provence, 1970 is the kind of book you want to linger with as long
as possible.”
—Daphne Merkin
“Luke Barr paints an intimate portrait of the ambitious,
quarrelsome, funny, hungry pioneers who brought about a great
culinary shift—the ending of the classical era, and the beginning
of a newly experimental, wide-ranging, ambitious cuisine, one that
was inspired by France but was quintessentially American in style
and flavor. Provence, 1970 gives a front-row seat to the
creation of modern American cooking.”
—Alex Prud'homme, co-author with Julia Child of My Life in France
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