The remarkable fusion between life, the produce of the countryside and the food on the table that is Auvergne continues as it has done for generations. In a dozen chapters devoted the constituents of a Rabelaisian meal - from soups, to egg dishes and pancakes, cheese dishes, fish, pork, game, poultry and other meat dishes, vegetables, desserts and breads, preserves and confectionery; more cheese, and wine - Peter Graham laces recipes together with extended introductions which reflect on the life of the countryside, his travels around it, and his long residence in it. The food of the Auvergne exemplifies that regionality that is so special to the complex whole that makes up French cookery. It is an amalgam of influences exerted by local materials, the landscape, social development and a long history. Peter Graham unpicks these delicately, with a style and knowledge born out of reading, wide sampling and much socialising.

Peter Graham, has lived in France for much of his adult life. He has written books on the cinema and on psychoanalysis as well as compiling travel guides and undertaking journalism for the Sunday Times, The Times and the Guardian. His previous books on cookery include a translation of Jacques Médecin's Cuisine Niçoise and his own Classic Cheese Cookery.