Ma Gastronomie

Since its first publication in France in 1969, Ma Gastronomie has taken its place among the classics of French gastronomy. This essential volume is as celebrated for Fernand Point's wise, witty, and provocative views on food as for his remarkable, inventive recipes--over 200 of them--carefully compiled from his handwritten notes.

An undisputed creative genius of French gastronomy and founder of the legendary La Pyramide restaurant, halfway between Paris and the Riviera, Point revolutionized French cuisine, building on its traditions and creating his own versions of the great classical dishes. His peers called him Le Roi, and during his reign there were few celebrities and no serious gourmet who didn't make the journey to dine at La Pyramide. His disciples, Paul Bocuse, Alain Chapel, and Jean and Pierre Troisgros, are among the world's greatest French chefs. As one of his three-star students, François Bise, said, "Point was an artist. It's difficult to say enough about him." In that spirit, it is not unfounded to assert that no cookbook collection is truly complete without a copy of Ma Gastronomie.

Fernand Point was just twenty-four when he opened the Restaurant de la Pyramide, just south of Lyon, France. Over the next 30 years, he built it into one of the world's greatest restaurants and trained many of today's top French chefs. When he died in 1955, at the age of fifty-eight, he was considered the master cuisinier of the twentieth century.