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135th out of 469 books
—
979 voters
A Pig in Provence: Good Food and Simple Pleasures in the South of France
From the publisher of Under the Tuscan Sun comes another extraordinary memoir of a woman embarking on a new lifethis time in the South of France. Thirty years ago, James Beard Award-winning author Georgeanne Brennan set out to realize the dream of a peaceful, rural existence en Provence. She and her husband, with their young daughter in tow, bought a small farmhouse with a...more
Hardcover, 224 pages
Published
March 8th 2007
by Chronicle Books
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I thought this would be a cool book about an American family who decides to live in Provence, France. The author and her family have alternated living in California and Provence, but the book is just random stories compiled from all the times she lived there. The most confusing thing was in one chapter she's with her husband Donald and in another she's with her second husband Jim. What happened to Donald? Divorce? Death? What? Some of the chapters were OK, but I was expecting a continuous story...more
I am working on a cookbook with Georgeanne, so of course I had to go back and get familiar with her earlier writings. I thought that this memoir would be a great place to start to learn more about her, and I really did. The book definitely romanticizes Provence, but in a way that is appealing and inspiring. Of course, after the first chapter I was in love with the idea of picking up my life and relocating to the French countryside, making goat cheese and preparing fresh meals and tending to goat...more
Apr 01, 2012
Josephine
added it
I hate the term “foodie” — but I think foodies would like Georgeanne Brennan’s “A Pig In Provence.”
It’s a true food memoir — it’s not a memoir in the sense that you get to really know Georgeanne as a person.
We learn that she and her husband, Donald, buy a farmhouse deep in the backcountry of Provence, where they have every intent of raising their young daughter, Ethel (and then later, their son, Oliver) while living a simple rural life, making and selling goat cheese.
But then, almost in passing,...more
It’s a true food memoir — it’s not a memoir in the sense that you get to really know Georgeanne as a person.
We learn that she and her husband, Donald, buy a farmhouse deep in the backcountry of Provence, where they have every intent of raising their young daughter, Ethel (and then later, their son, Oliver) while living a simple rural life, making and selling goat cheese.
But then, almost in passing,...more
I love reading about people, and especially families, who make the leap to live in a far away place. This book really was a kind book, nice about everyone, and had a lot of recipes, but all she talked about was what she ate and how it was cooked and served. There are no wacky locals, or even unique personalities, everyone is a lovely friend. She mentions in passing that they summered with two small children in a house with no toilet and no stove and there are no amusing or even "we over came the...more
This book was odd to me. I expected to like it a lot, & did like it some but not enough to highly recommend it. The food part was interesting & lived up to review promise but the personal part didn't. The author included information about her life in bits & pieces, not in sufficient amounts to really work. It needed a lot more detail, or a lot less with all emphasis on the people & food of France & none on her own life.
Parts of this book were really interesting. The first three chapters, which describe Brennan's early years trying to get started as a cheese maker in a small village in Provence in the 1970s, include some very detailed food history, such as an up close description of "le jour du cochon", or the seasonal, day long process of slaughtering, dressing, and preserving an entire pig.
Brennan at her best is a full-sensory writer, and can set a scene really well. Pair that with her curiosity and interest...more
Brennan at her best is a full-sensory writer, and can set a scene really well. Pair that with her curiosity and interest...more
Being my current obsession is France (don't let me down, Lady!) and food/farming, this book gives me the butterflies just thinking about it. It's also given me trouble on the vegetarian front: am I really? Don't I want to eat Poulet aux quarant gousses d'ail (yeah, that's one chicken, forty cloves of garlic), or roasted leg of lamb? Troubling indeed. But the book is wonderful. The book is about a woman who moves to Provence in the 70s with her three-year-old daughter and her husband. What it's r...more
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This is a food memoir, an episodic recollection of meals eaten and friends made in the south of France. That's it.
The author is stingy in sharing actual life events, emotions and motivations. She casually mentions a first husband (Donald), then later in the book it's Jim... So, did she divorce? Was she widowed? Did she bury the first guy under an olive tree? She drops a few mentions of students from her cooking school - am I supposed to know how this came about? Is this book 6 of a series and I...more
The author is stingy in sharing actual life events, emotions and motivations. She casually mentions a first husband (Donald), then later in the book it's Jim... So, did she divorce? Was she widowed? Did she bury the first guy under an olive tree? She drops a few mentions of students from her cooking school - am I supposed to know how this came about? Is this book 6 of a series and I...more
This book has a promising beginning. I typically enjoy books with chapters that tell a story followed by a recipe from the story, in fact I often follow that formula in my own blog at seasonaleating.net. However, unlike a blog, a book works best if the chapters build together to tell an overall story with beginning, middle, and end. Although some of the first chapters tell entertaining stories about an American living with her husband and children in rural Provencal in the 1970s, other chapters...more
A hidden gem written by a woman who lives part time in Provence, first when raising her young family, then on frequent visits. Not so much a memoir as much as it is a travelogue and fascinating exploration of Provence's agricultural and culinary traditions, like the tradition of walking sheep through villages to the Alps to graze in the summer, or the real tradition of making Marseilles bouillabaisse. Some stories are also framed by tales of the author's family living in Provence but the richest...more
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A Pig in Provence: Good Food and Simple Pleasures in the South of France
By Georgeanne Brennan
4 stars
pp.209
The warmth, the good natural food, the close to the land feel is all there in Georgeanne Brennan's memoir A Pig in Provence: Good Food and Simple Pleasures in the South of France. Which starts with Georgeanne, her husband Donald and her young daughter Ethel attempting to start a goat herd and begin making cheese to sell for a living. They have relocated to Provence during the height of the...more
By Georgeanne Brennan
4 stars
pp.209
The warmth, the good natural food, the close to the land feel is all there in Georgeanne Brennan's memoir A Pig in Provence: Good Food and Simple Pleasures in the South of France. Which starts with Georgeanne, her husband Donald and her young daughter Ethel attempting to start a goat herd and begin making cheese to sell for a living. They have relocated to Provence during the height of the...more
Like Ms Brennan, I too am enchanted by Provence. Unlike her, I am still looking for a way of making France my second home. Much as I enjoyed Peter Mayle's "A Year in Provence", "A Pig in Provence" is a more graceful memoir. Brennan's respect for the French country life - la vraie France - and her love for this wonderful piece of the world shines through every word. The pig of the title, Lucretia, is rather endearing as are the goats. Her description of the "transhumance" has me scheming how I ca...more
I love this book, not only for the exquisite memoir parts that capture a time and place very close to my heart and not to distant from my own childhood experiences in Provence, but also because this book is full of wonderful Provencal recipes! Georgeanne is one of my Provencal cooking idols. I have a stained copy of A Pig in Provence on our kitchen book shelf next to an even more stained copy of her fabulous The Food and Flavours of Haute Provence.
When Georgeanne reviewed my own book I found he...more
When Georgeanne reviewed my own book I found he...more
I think people are investing far too much energy trying to categorize this book. Georgeanne Brennan has a unique talent for bringing her recipes to life by offering little vignettes.
This book is a memoir, not a biography. Consequently, the standards I have seen other reviewers attempt to impose on this little book. For my part, the author enriched her recipes with her stories and vice versa.
To that end, for people who love food and enjoy having a story behind the recipe, this is the book for y...more
This book is a memoir, not a biography. Consequently, the standards I have seen other reviewers attempt to impose on this little book. For my part, the author enriched her recipes with her stories and vice versa.
To that end, for people who love food and enjoy having a story behind the recipe, this is the book for y...more
Because I have a friend who raises goats and makes her own cheese, and another who wishes she did, I picked this book up to read.
After finding her goats the author continued to learn from the locals, raising the goats, pigs and chickens all for use in the kitchen.
I enjoyed reading about the community feasts and long summer suppers under the fading sun and rising moon. Even though I am not a foodie, I enjoyed reading the recipes and imagining the French kitchen and friends cooking together.
I coul...more
After finding her goats the author continued to learn from the locals, raising the goats, pigs and chickens all for use in the kitchen.
I enjoyed reading about the community feasts and long summer suppers under the fading sun and rising moon. Even though I am not a foodie, I enjoyed reading the recipes and imagining the French kitchen and friends cooking together.
I coul...more
Jul 29, 2011
Catherine Woodman
added it
I really enjoyed this book, which is a memoir of a life in Provence for a Californian over the course of several decades--the focus is very appropriately on food and the importance of making, growing, preparing, and eating food has in the region. there is a great chapter on starting a goat cheesemaking operation, and another one on making stuffed vegetables that made me want to make this this summer, immediately. Another good theme is the 'use everything' aspect of living that I really love and...more
Not well written...she's a professor of some sorts, but not of English/Literature! She's also a chef who writes about her experiences in Provence. A lot of it is her showing off it seems. Some of it is good, but my biggest problem (besides the lack of flow) was how descriptive she is with the food. I dont need to know how to prepare pigs feet, or the best way to slaughter one!
My stomach was turning the majority of the book, & really I walked away with only one recipe I would ever consider ma...more
My stomach was turning the majority of the book, & really I walked away with only one recipe I would ever consider ma...more
A really neat slice of life from a Provence that I fear no longer exists. However, although Brennan's experiences date from 30 years ago, they're no less fascinating. The foods she encounters and so vividly and wonderfully described, I nearly felt as if I was eating at her table. The book is very much a love letter to the area and its cuisine. Combining cooking with biography, it's a great mix. I adored the sections about her early life in Provence, beginning a cheese business.
A slice of life of Provence in the 1970’s. It’s mostly about food, and lovingly described so if you are a foodie then this might be for you, but there’s also stories of the people and way of life at the time. Brennan and her family moved to Provence and raised goats and pigs, made cheese and sold it all. There’s not much about her and her family, it mostly focuses on events, and Georgeanne’s learning to cook.
Warm vignettes of life in Provence. The author first arrived there when old ways of doing things were there to be learned before they began to disappear. Brought back memories of my youth when I first tasted authentic French and Italian country cooking with game and other ingredients fresh from the garden accompanied by wine I'd seen first crushed in the barrel. I'm not a fan of goat cheese, but I want to try all the varieties the author the author experiences in her attempts to make her own.
A Pig in Provence is a light and fun read, blending a bit of travel memoir with a picture of traditional life in Provence. Each chapter is centered on a social event that is paired with a traditional dish. The flavors leap off the page. It makes me long for a more cyclical eating that is tied as well to events, not just what's on sale.
A family in the 1970's decides to leave California and start a new life in southern France to raise goats and make goat cheese. I thought this was a fun and interesting story. Although the author focused more on the ins and outs of making/raising food rather than the interpersonal relationships of the people around them. I would have liked to hear more about how they adjusted as a family to this new culture and see the more emotional side of their experience.
A very easy read taking one into a world in which the sense of community still exists strongly and life is still tied to the land and to the joys of shared communion at the dinner table. It was also well worth the read for the recipes that were lace through the book.
Enjoyable read. The author clearly loves food and I spent much of the book feeling hungry. I made the Braised Pork Shoulder with Mustard and Capers recipe that was included at the end of a chapter and it was a little piece of heaven in my mouth.
Thought I would like this book more, but it was just okay. Lots of detail of the food, and some interesting parts where she described her adventures in cheese making, etc. but overall it was a little disjointed with personal details.
Found this book on the shelves at the Goodwill in Rodeo, CA. Great read if you're interested in the slow food scene. The stories about making goat cheese are particularly interesting.
no surprises, but a nice read about a woman who actually moved to a small town in France rather than just dream about it.
Changed to 3 stars (the 4 was a typo).
Changed to 3 stars (the 4 was a typo).
Jun 22, 2011
Deborah
added it
A loved this story because it was about a young American couple picking up their life and starting over in Provence. It also inspires you to cook!
Aug 03, 2011
Christine
added it
Eh... It was good to a point, but I found it dragging at the end. It was only the foodie in me that got me through to the end.
Loved this book. It makes you want to hope a plane for Provence immediately. Instead, I've signed up for one of Brennan's classes in California.
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