The Impressionists' Table

A cookbook for the modern gourmet and a stunning book on the art and gastronomy of nineteenth-century France, The Impressionists' Table evokes the French tradition of dining through the Impressionists' paintings of picnics, cafes, and restaurants, as well as vivid, richly textured still lifes of food.
The book features fifteen complete menus with eight recipes each, along with wine suggestions for each menu. The recipes included here are all drawn from sources that date from the Impressionist era; the majority are culled from cookbooks in popular use at the time. Some, however, are the creations of the Impressionist painters themselves - namely, Claude Monet and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, who were avid cooks. All of the recipes are modern-day adaptations of nineteenth-century favorites with enduring gourmet appeal.

Alexandra Leaf is a New York University instructor.