Simple French Food

"For twenty years Richard Olney's Simple French Food has been one of my greatest sources of inspiration for cooking at Chez Panisse." —Alice Waters

Richard Olney was considered a culinary genius for his ability to elevate cooking to a practical art. He wrote evocatively about the beauty and pleasure in cooking by focusing on preparing simple foods well. This new edition of his classic cookbook, with a foreword by Mark Bittman, allows a whole new generation of food lovers to enjoy this inspiring book.


Olney's 175 recipes are so straightforward that cooks will be inspired to go right into the kitchen: herb omelets, fish with zucchini, lamb shanks with garlic, and many more. He also shares techniques (several featuring his own illustrations), such as fermenting vinegar, in line with the back-to-basics trend in cooking. Olney's emphasis on simplicity and improvisation in cooking will resonate with today's cooks and food lovers.


"A classic of honest French cooking and good writing. Buy it, read it, eat it." —Lydie Marshall


"Simple French Food has the most marvelous French food to appear in print since Elisabeth David's French Provincial Cooking." —Nika Hazelton, The New York Times

"I am unable to find an adequate adjective to express my enthusiasm. . . . I have never read a book on French cuisine that has so excited and absorbed me." —Simone Beck