Patric Kuh

Twenty-seven extraordinary chefs tell the personal stories behind their culinary triumphs. Over the past decade, our culture's interest in the world's great chefs has grown phenomenally. Once known to only the most dedicated gourmets, these supremely talented men and women have become high-profile stars with restaurants as their stages--masterful artists working in the medium that binds us all: food A wonderful companion volume to The French Culinary Institute's hit public television series, Chef's Story takes us into the private world of more than two dozen maestros of the kitchen--twenty-seven remarkable individuals who share their memories, their beliefs, and their passion for quality to reveal what helped them all become modern culinary legends.

" Kuh] offers informative, well-crafted appreciations of sincere, imaginative, sometimes highly influential people engaged in various aspects of food and drink production all over the country."--Wall Street Journal

The multiple-James Beard Award--winning restaurant critic for Los Angeles Magazine delivers an arresting exploration of our cultural demand for "artisanal" foods in a world dominated by corporate agribusiness. We hear the word "artisanal" all the time--attached to cheese, chocolate, coffee, even fast-food chain sandwiches--but what does it actually mean? We take "farm to table" and "handcrafted food" for granted now but how did we get here? In Finding the Flavors We Lost, acclaimed food writer Patric Kuh profiles major figures in the so-called "artisanal" food movement who brought exceptional taste back to food and inspired chefs and restaurateurs to redefine and rethink the way we eat. Kuh begins by narrating the entertaining stories of countercultural "radicals" who taught themselves the forgotten crafts of bread, cheese, and beer-making in reaction to the ever-present marketing of bland, mass-produced food, and how these people became the inspiration for today's crop of young chefs and artisans. Kuh examines how a rediscovery of the value of craft and individual effort has fueled today's popularity and appreciation for artisanal food and the transformations this has effected on both the restaurant menu and the dinner table. Throughout the book, he raises a host of critical questions. How big of an operation is too big for a food company to still call themselves "artisanal"? Does the high cost of handcrafted goods unintentionally make them unaffordable for many Americans? Does technological progress have to quash flavor? Eye-opening, informative, and entertaining, Finding the Flavors We Lost is a fresh look into the culture of artisan food as we know it today--and what its future may be.

"Essential reading for all serious foodies."--Anthony Bourdain, author of Kitchen Confidential Combining an insider's passion with down-to-earth humor, chef and food writer Patric Huk traces the evolution of American high-style restaurants from the 1941 opening of Le Pavillon to the recent rise of less traditional restaurants, such as Le Cirque, Spago, and Danny Meyer's Union Square group. Huk takes readers inside this high-stakes business, sharing little-known anecdotes, describing legendary cooks and bright new star chefs, and relating his own reminiscences. Populated by a host of food personalities, including Julia Child, M. F. K. Fisher, and James Beard, Kuh's social and cultural history of America's great restaurants reveals major changes in US cuisine. "A fascinating and compulsively readable story of the American restaurant and the larger-than-life people who made this the world's most exciting restaurant scene."--Michael Ruhlman, author of The Soul of a Chef