a cookbook with a difference

Cookery books are packed onto the shelves of the chain bookstores by their female managers to the extent that you wonder how many of the millions of recipes they contain are ever tried by anyone.

This book is a bit different, however, as it features dishes that were actually served by station restaurants around France, a country known for haute cuisine. These establishments were called café, restaurant and hôtel, but particularly "buffet de la gare" and primarly served railway workers and passengers waiting for connections.  But locals also frequented them, particularly for Sunday dinner, and as such they competed for custom with other restaurants.

This book contains 300 recipes from around France, thus regional specialties, and rather than glossy colour photos of what the results should look like, has photos of the various stations as they used to look like in the old days. 180 pages, hardcover, duotone printing.