Provence, 1970 by Luke Barr

Author:Luke Barr [Barr, Luke]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-7704-3331-4
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
Published: 2013-10-22T04:00:00+00:00

Olney and Beard had never met, and Olney’s first impression was of a “huge, gentle and benign creature—touching, sad, and very ill.” It was a remarkable contrast to the persona Beard presented in his columns, of the eminently authoritative and insatiable gourmet. Their meeting later that afternoon took place at Pathé’s clinic in Grasse, where Beard was staying for a few more days. Beard was happy to see his visitor—curious to meet Olney, and eager as always for any distractions: from his book and from his diet.

Olney thanked him for the positive review of his book, which is what had brought them together. He knew that Beard was the godfather of the American food world, and he appreciated the generosity Beard had shown to a first-time author. (Beard had done the same for Julia and Simca when they started out—he was always a great champion of new talent, new chefs, new restaurants.)

Beard was most amusing in his description of his “salt-free, alcohol-free, starch-free, food-free diet.” He jokingly suggested that the doctors had some secret plan to administer shock treatments, which would turn him away from food and wine for life. Impossible, of course. In any case, he said, he was due to escape this nuthouse in a matter of days.

Olney described for Beard, by way of contrast, the elaborate CVF meal he’d had in Paris the previous weekend. It had in fact been overelaborate, but the wines had been stunning. The editor of CVF was a good friend, he said—Odette Kahn; Beard must meet her. Beard knew the magazine, of course, and held forth for a while on the food business in America and France, his book in progress, his newspaper column, and gossip about chefs and restaurants.

He asked Olney if he was planning to write for any of the American food magazines—he knew all the editors and could make introductions. No need, said Olney; his literary agent in New York had already done so. “I have no idea if Gourmet magazine has accepted or will accept my socio-gastronomic study of the French lower classes,” he said, describing his first commission. “Although they assigned it, I believe they wanted something else.”

The article he’d written was about rustic cooking traditions, something he’d been thinking about more and more. Pot roasts, braises …

And what about his next cookbook? Beard asked. He would be happy to put in a good word at any of the publishing houses.

If Olney was meant to be impressed, he wasn’t. As with Child, he felt secretly superior to Beard; he had almost no interest in the American Cookery book, for example. It sounded dreadful. Olney was entirely focused on the nuances of French cooking. He refused to be impressed with Beard’s status in the American food world. He just didn’t care about the inner workings of the New York restaurant business, or the New York food magazine business, or the New York cookbook publishing business. (Or at least Olney did not wish to appear to care about such things.

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