“How Provence went from nowheresville to a nouveau-Eden is the subject of Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz’s A Taste for Provence, a fascinating survey of the many ways in which business, literature, art, and food fashions shape our desires about where to travel and how to live.”

Wall Street Journal

“Nowadays we all love Provence, or at least the dream of it. Horowitz tells a fluent story of how Americans in particular came under its spell.”

Times Literary Supplement

“In this careful and well-researched telling, Horowitz proves herself an able tour guide for the American understanding of Provence.”

The AAG Review of Books

“Reading Horowitz’s eloquent and fascinating A Taste for Provence was for me like going to a reunion of the people who had a hand in drawing me that magical region of France. Now I understand more deeply why Provence became and continues to be such an important part of my life.”

Martha Rose Shulman, author of Provençal Light and The Simple Art of Vegetarian Cooking

“Everyone loves Provence, including Horowitz, and luckily for us she was also curious about how it came to be designated as paradise. In this fascinating, evocative book she looks past the olive trees and the lavender to explore culture, commerce, and imagination itself.”

Laura Shapiro, author of Julia Child: A Life

“From Roman ruins to ripe tomatoes, Provence has served for centuries as a locus of attractions and commodities not available in the United States. A Taste for Provence is both engaging and illuminating; a delight from start to finish.”

Jane S. Smith, author of The Garden of Invention: Luther Burbank and the Business of Breeding Plants

“During the second half of the twentieth century, Provence was widely hailed among American gastronomes and luxury travelers as a place of simplicity, rare beauty, glorious sunny days, and fine regional cuisine. But just how Provence became so popular among Americans, and why its food and wine should have captured the American imagination in a way that other French regions with arguably finer food and wine traditions did not has long been a matter of some confusion and disagreement. Here is a book that explains it all, looking at Provence’s special appeal to the senses, even as it analyzes the cultural and economic forces that went into the region’s promotion and sale. For those of us who have never had the privilege of visiting Provence—or have visited it too briefly—A Taste for Provence does a splendid job of explaining the region’s particular charm. In looking at the American response to Provence from Thomas Jefferson through Julia Child, Horowitz takes the reader on a journey through time and history, and does so from a uniquely American perspective. Engaging, informative, and an utter pleasure to read, A Taste for Provence fills a gap in our cultural awareness even as it tempts us to pack our bags and set off on a long, utterly hedonistic adventure of our own.”

Justin Spring, author of Secret Historian

 
“Horowitz’s detailed description of American cooks’ incredible alarm at using fresh garlic will remind some Anglo readers of things grandmothers used to say. Her enthusiastic personal accounts of shopping and dining prompted me to savor a fabulous ratatouille before starting this review. As a playful work in American Studies, the book thus has much to recommend it.”

H-France Review