A delicious memoir about the eight months food writer David McAninch
spent in Gascony--a deeply rural region of France virtually untouched by
mass tourism--meeting extraordinary characters and eating the best meals
of his life.
Though he'd been a card-carrying Francophile all of his life, David
McAninch knew little about Gascony, an ancient region in Southwest
France mostly overlooked by Americans. Then an assignment sent him to
research a story on duck. After enjoying a string of rich
meals--Armagnac-flambéed duck tenderloins; skewered duck hearts with
chanterelles; a duck-confit shepherd's pie strewn with shavings of foie
gras--he soon realized what he'd been missing.
McAninch decided he needed a more permanent fix. He'd fallen in
love--not only with the food but with the people, and with the sheer
unspoiled beauty of the place. So, along with his wife and young
daughter, he moved to an old millhouse in the small village of Plaisance
du Gers, where they would spend the next eight months living as Gascons.
Duck Season is the delightful, mouthwatering chronicle of McAninch's
time in this tradition-bound corner of France. There he herds sheep in
the Pyrenees, harvests grapes, attends a pig slaughter, hunts for
pigeons, distills Armagnac, and, of course, makes and eats all manner of
delicious duck specialties--learning to rewire his own thinking about
cooking, eating, drinking, and the art of living a full and happy life.
With wit and warmth, McAninch brings us deep into this enchanting world,
where eating what makes you happy isn't a sin but a commandment and
where, to the eternal surprise of outsiders, locals' life expectancy is
higher than in any other region of France. Featuring a dozen choice
recipes and beautiful line drawings, Duck Season is an irresistible
treat for Francophiles and gourmands alike.
