(Prospect Books) Peter Graham. Mourjou: The Life and Food of an Auvergne Village.

Illus. by Peter Campbell, incl. map of the region. Pictorial wrappers. First Paperback Edition. London: Prospect Books, 2004.

Peter Graham laces recipes together with extended introductions which reflect on the life of the countryside, his travels around it, and his long residence in it. The food of the Auvergne exemplifies that regionality that is so special to the complex whole that makes up French cookery. It is an amalgam of influences exerted by local materials, the landscape, social development and a long history. Graham unpicks these delicately, with a style and knowledge born out of reading, wide sampling and much socializing. In consequence, the reader not only has a marvellous series of recipes that will warm many a winter supper — or harvest-home for that matter — but also will come away considerably the wiser about Auvergnat society history and culture.