Frontières

2024 WINNER OF THE INTERNATIONAL/REGIONAL COOKBOOK GUILD OF FOOD WRITERS AWARD

Shortlisted for Fortnum & Mason Cookery Book of the Year

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This is a book about the cooking of France’s borderlands: from the geographical to the historical, linguistic and metaphorical. In it, Alex Jackson sets out to investigate the cooking of these borderland areas with a view to exploring the similarities between the food on either side of the borders. From the Riviera, where the border has shifted many times but the cooking remains of a delicious whole, to the Occitan valleys of the Italian Alps, the Franco-German cooking of Alsace, and Marseille, one of the most important ports of the Mediterranean, and its historic (and current) links with North Africa.

Alex explores how French cuisine has been influenced through history and that many of these dishes are part of a shared tradition of western European and Mediterranean cookery.

With over 80 mouth-watering recipes and fascinating introductions to each region, Frontières will take you on a delicious gastronomic journey through France's varied borderlands, adding many interesting dishes to your repertoire along the way.

Reviews

2024 WINNER OF THE INTERNATIONAL/REGIONAL COOKBOOK GUILD OF FOOD WRITERS AWARD

‘If you fell in love with food through trips to France you’ll be in heaven. Frontières shows you why you felt that way in the first place. This will stand alongside my favourite books on French cookery, by Richard Olney and Anne Willan. A dream of a book.’ — Diana Henry

'What a clever, fascinating book this is, with Jackson delving into France’s borderlands, taking in everything from the Alps and Alsace to North Africa, the Riviera and the Southwest. These are permeable borders, the recipes often interchangeable with Germany and Tunisia, Italy and Spain. The writing is wonderful, the recipes sublime.’ — Tom Parker Bowles, MailOnline

‘Frontières is an intelligent and articulate research of authentic, tightly regional French recipes, anecdotes and stories. It is a delight. Ironically, poignantly even, in this 21st century, it could have only been compiled and written by an impassioned rosbif.’

— Simon Hopkinson

‘By exploring the overlapping flavours and traditions of the French borderlands Alex Jackson takes you on a fascinating and potent culinary journey. This wonderful and timely book serves as a reminder that good food always reflects a breadth of influence and, like music, art and friendship, it crosses all boundaries. It contains a superb collection of recipes.’

— Rachel Roddy

‘’Tis a joy to read of the pleasures of French cooking which have so inspired and informed cooks for generations. This book is a delightful new addition to a most distinguished company of cooks and writers, bravo Alex.’

— Jeremy Lee