THE INVENTION OF THE RESTAURANT Paris and Modern Gastronomic Culture, 2nd Edition

Elisabeth Lagelee's narration of this audiobook is just right. Raised in Paris, she brings the sound and sensibility that this very Paris-influenced text needs. Her lovely voice and musical delivery of French words and phrases elevate this detailed and meticulously researched dive into the eighteenth century, when the first eating places were established. Spang used travel journals, medical treatises, and plays to create this cultural history. She says restaurants were defined by waiters, mirrors, and menus. She expertly traces how restaurants came to have an outsized influence on French life. Adam Gopnik's foreword provides a fine contemporary frame to see how these private dining experiences (some very private indeed) became public reflections of French gastronomy. A.D.M. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine [Published: JUNE 2023]