Foreword

In 1961, long before it was fashionable, Paul and Jeanne Strang bought an abandoned farmhouse in the Aveyron, in the heart of South-West France - La France Profonde. He was a solicitor, she a book editor, and thus began a 60 year love affair with the Aveyron, their neighbours and the French way of life.

In the crowded field of cookery books, few achieve the status of classics. The works of Elizabeth David and Jane Grigson, and mega-sellers such as Robert Carrier’s Great Dishes of the World (1963) and Delia’s Complete Cookery Course (1992), are exceptions, remaining perpetually in print and on literally millions of British bookshelves.