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  • À Table! The Food Culture of Franceby Becky Brown
  • Sarah Glasco
B rown, B ecky. À Table! The Food Culture of France. 2 nded. Hackett, 2017. ISBN 978-1-58510-847-3. Pp. 224.

À Table!makes a brilliant companion for intermediate-to-advanced courses or a perfect primary textbook for a content-focused study of French culinary culture. Astutely fashioned after a French menu with its nine chapters chronologically embodying individual facets of a multi-course meal from apéritifto digestif, À table!incorporates excerpts of prose, poetry, and film that address the culture of eating in France. The author also blends recipes and instructions for dégustationswith vocabulary and grammar explanations/activities that foster creative and pragmatic interactions. [End Page 233]In sum, this textbook explores French/Francophone culture via literature and trends that feature cuisine and seamlessly facilitates critical cultural examinations through gastronomical, historical lenses. This second edition comes replete with a full-color transformation of the layout, which displays a more user-friendly text. While the first edition was entirely in black-and-white, this re-design showcases the introduction to each reading as well as the vocabulary sections called"Un grain de conversation"and "Métaphores mangeables" in pastel boxes that highlight these key components. Furthermore, every black-and-white photo from the first edition has been replaced by a full-color version, which helps bring their accompanying stories to life. Some readings have been expanded, such as Ronsard's "Ode à Gaspard d'Auvergne," which previously appeared as an unnamed excerpt. In order to refine thematic coherency, Brown includes more comprehension questions for some readings while also reordering other passages. Additional changes involve a small but important tweak to the text's subtitle, formerly "The Gourmet Culture of France," as well as expanding the index to include a "Restaurants" category in the second edition. Finally, two first-edition gems remain intact, including guides for Peter Mayle's Aventures dans la France gourmandeand Calixthe Beyala's Comment cuisiner son mari à l'africaine. For instructors wishing to challenge students, supplementing with one of these novels further boosts learning. Brown's guides with basic chapter-by-chapter comprehension questions are readymade to ease instructors' workloads while guiding students through a more extensive literary experience in French. Overall, this new edition accomplishes much. It helps students develop vocabulary, sharpen analytical skills, and broaden knowledge of contemporary Francophone culinary culture through exposure to different styles of journalistic writing, recipes, and literature. It is a solid tool for reinforcing grammar and writing through short compositions and contextualized grammar exercises offered in the"Une cuillerée de réflexion" and"Un zeste d'activité" sections. Students are encouraged to explore French viewpoints on culture and cuisine and draw comparisons. By the end of a semester engaged with this text, increased intercultural competence—through new perspectives of Francophone history, literature, culture, and eventually cuisine—is quite attainable. Ultimately, through literary and artistic representations of cuisine, instructors and students can explore the relationship between a place, a people, their language, the land, and the food they produce, in order to debunk stereotypes and enhance global competence.

Sarah Glasco
Elon University (NC)

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