Böcker av Barbara Santich

'We have two cuisines in France, that of the north and that of the south', boldly stated the first cookbook directly concerned with southern French cuisine in 1830. This book investigates the reasons for and background to these differences, specifically in Provence. In the absence of cookbooks for the region in the 18th century, it uses innovative methodologies relying on a range of hitherto unexplored primary resources, ranging from household accounts and manuscript recipes to local newspapers and gardening manuals that focus on the actuality of the 18th century Provençal table. The sources emphasise the essentially seasonal and local nature of eating in Provence at this time. In many ways eating habits echoed generalised French patterns, according to class, but at the same time the use of particular foods and culinary practices testified to a distinctive Provençal food culture, partly related to geographic and climatic differences but also to cultural influences. This food culture represented the foundation for the Provençal cuisine which was recognised and codified in the early 19th century.From a diverse archive of documents has emerged new evidence for the cultivation and consumption of potatoes and tomatoes in Provence and for the origins and evolution of emblematic dishes such as bourride, bouillabaisse and brandade. In linking the coming-of-age of Provençal cuisine to post-Revolutionary culture, in particular the success of restaurants and the flourishing of gastronomic discourse, this book offers a new understanding of the development and evolution of regional cuisines.

I drank Normandy farmhouse cider, ate strawberries dipped in red wine then sugar, and tasted truffles and soft goat cheeses for the first time. I returned to Australia inspired to become a food writer. France bewitched Barbara Santich as a student in the early 1970s. She vowed to return, and soon enough she did - with husband and infant twins in tow. Wild Asparagus, Wild Strawberries tells the story of the magical two years that followed. Buoyed by naïve enthusiasm, Barbara and her husband launched themselves into French village life, a world of winemaking, rabbit raising, cherry picking and exuberant 14 Juillet celebrations. Here we see the awakening of Barbara Santich's lifelong love affair with food history. And also a lost France, 'when the 19th century almost touched hands with the 21st'. Shepherds still led their flocks to pasture each day and, even near the bustling towns, wild strawberries hid at the forest's edge.

The Original Mediterranean Cuisine is both culinary history and cookbook, with 70 recipes from fourteenth- and fifteenth-century Catalan and Italian manuscripts, adapted for today's kitchens.