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Duck Season: Eating, Drinking and Other Misadventures in Gascony, France's Last Best Place
A delicious memoir about the eight months food writer David McAninch spent in Gascony—a deeply rural region of France virtually untouched by mass tourism—meeting extraordinary characters and eating the best meals of his life.Though he’d been a card-carrying Francophile all of his life, David McAninch knew little about Gascony, an ancient region in Southwest France mostly overlooked by Americans. Then an assignment sent him to research a story on duck. After enjoying a string of rich meals—Armagnac-flambéed duck tenderloins; skewered duck hearts with chanterelles; a duck-confit shepherd’s pie strewn with shavings of foie gras—he soon realized what he’d been missing.McAninch decided he needed a more permanent fix. He’d fallen in love—not only with the food but with the people, and with the sheer unspoiled beauty of the place. So, along with his wife and young daughter, he moved to an old millhouse in the small village of Plaisance du Gers, where they would spend the next eight months living as Gascons. Duck Season is the delightful, mouthwatering chronicle of McAninch’s time in this tradition-bound corner of France. There he herds sheep in the Pyrenees, harvests grapes, attends a pig slaughter, hunts for pigeons, distills Armagnac, and, of course, makes and eats all manner of delicious duck specialties—learning to rewire his own thinking about cooking, eating, drinking, and the art of living a full and happy life.With wit and warmth, McAninch brings us deep into this enchanting world, where eating what makes you happy isn’t a sin but a commandment and where, to the eternal surprise of outsiders, locals’ life expectancy is higher than in any other region of France. Featuring a dozen choice recipes and beautiful line drawings, Duck Season is an irresistible treat for Francophiles and gourmands alike.
288 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 7, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews
June 18, 2017
Probably the best travel memoir about France I’ve read. Each chapter focuses on a unique Gascon culinary or cultural experience and is deceptively funny and engaging; all the while, McAninch is drawing you in. We know from the start that he and his family plan to be in Gascony for less than a year, creating a sense of urgency around both their stay and the strong but slowly fading heritage McAninch has fallen in love with. Tradition and change are simultaneously present throughout. By the end, I was feeling super sad they left, dismayed at the thought of Amandine selling her cheese van, guilty about my complicity in the Instagramming of the world, but also somehow reassured that there will (probably?) always be someone (well, three people) pouring batter onto a rotating spit before an open flame for two and a half hours to create a three-foot gateau a la broche in Gascony.
I also learned a lot of really useful French vocabulary:
Le troisième age: A nice way to refer to retirees
Piment: A hot pepper (as in, “Eh ohh, tu es un piment!”)
Je vous emmerde: Screw you (or, as I like to think of it, I enshit you)
Debrouillard: Resourceful, in a MacGyver sort of way
Gratte-cul: Ass-scratcher (and a colloquial word for rose hips)
Mondain: Basic (as in bitches)
And a special shoutout to my favorite word in the book, Les Esbouhats. Les Esbouhats are the culinary society, comprised mostly of former rugby players, that McAninch falls in with. I’m guessing the proper pronunciation is closer to “lez-eh-bwah” but I enjoyed hearing it in my head as the “es-BOO-hats.”
I read a free copy that miraculously dropped onto my desk at work.
I also learned a lot of really useful French vocabulary:
Le troisième age: A nice way to refer to retirees
Piment: A hot pepper (as in, “Eh ohh, tu es un piment!”)
Je vous emmerde: Screw you (or, as I like to think of it, I enshit you)
Debrouillard: Resourceful, in a MacGyver sort of way
Gratte-cul: Ass-scratcher (and a colloquial word for rose hips)
Mondain: Basic (as in bitches)
And a special shoutout to my favorite word in the book, Les Esbouhats. Les Esbouhats are the culinary society, comprised mostly of former rugby players, that McAninch falls in with. I’m guessing the proper pronunciation is closer to “lez-eh-bwah” but I enjoyed hearing it in my head as the “es-BOO-hats.”
I read a free copy that miraculously dropped onto my desk at work.
December 12, 2017
Not a great book, but it will make you hungry.
April 24, 2017
Excellent book. If you love food or France you will love this book. Similar to A Year in Provence, only better.
July 20, 2024
This hilly region of duck farms and vineyards began to shimmer in my imagination like France’s Last Best Place, a kind of Brigadoon. The unabashedly rich food, the long meals, the fanatical devotion to tradition, the indomitable joie de vivre - not only did these things intrigue me as a writer, but I began to believe they might be an excellent cure for some ills in my own culinary life.
This was the Gers, the most rural of France’s 101 departments, a place where ducks outnumbered people twenty to one. This was the verdant heart of Gascony.
Even though I have owned a home in the Gers for a few years now, I feel like I have only superficially sampled the local culinary culture in comparison to food writer David McAninch - who takes a deep dive into some of its most cherished rituals, complicated dishes and inner sanctum boozy socialising. I’m considerably less enamoured than McAninch with the large quantities of charcuterie, foie gras and duck fat that typify the Gascon cuisine, and nor do I have the constitution for the epic orgies of eating and drinking that McAninch describes. His descriptive powers are such that I felt overfull just from reading about it, but I did appreciate the privileged glimpse into the Gersoises cuisines _ a word that means “kitchen” in French, but also conveniently describes the food which comes out of those kitchens.
If you have no interest in French gastronomy, I would definitely not recommend this book to you. However, if you do, this is a wonderfully accessible example of one of the lesser-known regions of France. I can confirm, with McAninch, that foie gras is as ubiquitous here as potato chips would be in the United States.
McAninch has a real gift for describing the local inhabitants of Plaisance - the village in the Gers where he lives for 8 months - and his writing is self-deprecatingly humorous and easily digestible. Chapters read like short stories, each of them devoted to a special dish or aspect of the local food culture. I shared several stories from the book with a local Gers friend, and he corroborated the veracity of the author’s findings, even though some of them seemed outlandish to me. (I can definitely live without seeing a pig carved up, but my friend and McAninch highly recommend the experience as “unforgettable.”) My friend’s only quibble was with the inclusion of the rich peasant soup “garbure,” in the book. When I mentioned that I had never heard of it, or seen it on a menu, he sniffed and said that it really belonged to Les Landes (a neighbouring region) and not to the Gers at all. I’m certainly not qualified to comment on the matter, but I did appreciate the inclusion of this - and other - recipes at the end of the book. I might just try “Magret de Canard a l’Armagnac et aux Mures” some day, when my dinner guests are local and not British vegetarians.
May 4, 2017
I received a finished copy of "Duck Season" by David McAninch in exchange for an honest review.
I loved it; so thank you Harper Collins for sending me this wonderful book.
David McAninch, a professional writer for magazines such as Chicago magazine and Saveur and an unrepentant foodie, in 2014 moves himself, his wife, and 6-year-old daughter to France for eight months. He chooses a small village in rural Gascony in the South of France- an area which is overlooked in favor of more upscale spots such as Provence. (After all, "A Year in Provence" had already been written).
They move into an abandoned 200-year- old textile mill, determined to live like Gascons. And cook and eat the traditional dishes, most of which center around duck: duck breast, duck fat, duck legs, duck fat, duck hearts, duck skin cracklings. Lotsa duck.
McAninch writes with wry humor as he describes his friends and neighbors and his experiences as he joins in the various feasts, fetes, and rituals of his adoptive home. Think George Plimpton -attending the slaughter of a pig named Mimi, participating in a pigeon hunt ( he missed), visiting an eating club for rugby players (actually an overeating club), attending a bull fight-he loathed the spectacle but admitted that ragout of bull (the murdered beast's destiny) is a delicious dish.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading about food and/or France. There are even a few Gascon recipes at the end. Many of the review books which come my way, I pass along to a friend. But this one is a keeper.
I loved it; so thank you Harper Collins for sending me this wonderful book.
David McAninch, a professional writer for magazines such as Chicago magazine and Saveur and an unrepentant foodie, in 2014 moves himself, his wife, and 6-year-old daughter to France for eight months. He chooses a small village in rural Gascony in the South of France- an area which is overlooked in favor of more upscale spots such as Provence. (After all, "A Year in Provence" had already been written).
They move into an abandoned 200-year- old textile mill, determined to live like Gascons. And cook and eat the traditional dishes, most of which center around duck: duck breast, duck fat, duck legs, duck fat, duck hearts, duck skin cracklings. Lotsa duck.
McAninch writes with wry humor as he describes his friends and neighbors and his experiences as he joins in the various feasts, fetes, and rituals of his adoptive home. Think George Plimpton -attending the slaughter of a pig named Mimi, participating in a pigeon hunt ( he missed), visiting an eating club for rugby players (actually an overeating club), attending a bull fight-he loathed the spectacle but admitted that ragout of bull (the murdered beast's destiny) is a delicious dish.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading about food and/or France. There are even a few Gascon recipes at the end. Many of the review books which come my way, I pass along to a friend. But this one is a keeper.
July 23, 2017
3.5 stars
Enjoyable slow read to pick away at. Could have used more personal context to bring Michele and Charlotte into the picture, and even the author himself. But it was well organized and charming.
Enjoyable slow read to pick away at. Could have used more personal context to bring Michele and Charlotte into the picture, and even the author himself. But it was well organized and charming.
February 16, 2019
Food memoirs are my escape reads, and this one did not disappoint. It was a delicious mental vacation into southwestern France.
October 13, 2025
I really enjoyed this book. It was about a region of France other books haven’t covered. Loved the descriptions of making the various local dishes.
February 7, 2017
I received an uncorrected proof copy of this book from HarperCollins.
In this memoir, food writer David McAnninch details the eight months he and his family spent exploring the regional diet of Gascony. An area of Southwest France, the region is deeply rural and largely distant from tourism, providing the author with a look inside regional cooking and eating practices of the region. While there, McAnninch explores numerous ways of preparing duck, herds sheep, witnesses a pig slaughter, participates in an hours' long preparation of a traditional cake, tries his hand at making various regional dishes, and is invited into the homes of numerous local Gascons.
This memoir explores the ancient food preparation techniques of the Gascon region, many of which are rooted in old farmhouse practices. The name is no misnomer; Gascons raise and consume a tremendous amount of duck annually and many of the recipes and dishes described in the book center on duck and duck fat. Despite the difficulty of describing a subject that is better experienced firsthand, McAnninch does an admirable job of vividly describing his culinary exploits as well as the finished product, including both successes and failures. Throughout, it is clear that the author's experiences and this resulting memoir were entirely dependent on the goodwill and hospitality of local Gascon residents, who seem to have gamely welcomed the author into their social clubs, dinner parties, kitchens, and pantries.
Many of the scenes conveyed in this book seem straight from the pages of an historical account. For instance, McAnninch is invited to a gathering of a fraternal cooking club where he was able to enjoy a meal fit for "country lords:" "We started with a coarse, peppery homemade pate de campagne, studded with soft fat. After that came a cold lentil salad with gravlax and fresh dill, as refined as the pate was rustic. There were pickled cherry peppers stuffed with brandade. There were chive-topped deviled eggs. And at last the duck steaks, seared on the griddle for no more than a minute a side, perfectly saignant" (69-70). I was also amazed by the author's description of the ingredients and process of making the "tall, conical, hearth-baked confection known as gateau a la broche, 'cake on a spit'" (144), which is made from "thirty-six eggs, three pounds of butter, three pounds of flour, three pounds of sugar, ten packets of vanilla-sugar, one cup of dark rum, one handful of pulverized roasted hazelnuts (preferably from your own hazelnut tree), a generous pinch of salt (preferably from an ancient tin salt cellar nailed to the kitchen wall), and six egg whites for the icing" (145). The result was a three foot tall vertical cake.
I do wish the author had provided a bit more comprehensive historical background on the Basque region early on to help provide context and understanding for the reader. Additionally, the first part of the book seemed to deal mostly with the author's preparation and consummation of (mostly duck-based) meals. I enjoyed the later sections, where he explores the process behind food production including herding sheep and pig slaughtering more interesting and more varied than the rather repetitive description of cooking duck meat.
3.5 stars
In this memoir, food writer David McAnninch details the eight months he and his family spent exploring the regional diet of Gascony. An area of Southwest France, the region is deeply rural and largely distant from tourism, providing the author with a look inside regional cooking and eating practices of the region. While there, McAnninch explores numerous ways of preparing duck, herds sheep, witnesses a pig slaughter, participates in an hours' long preparation of a traditional cake, tries his hand at making various regional dishes, and is invited into the homes of numerous local Gascons.
This memoir explores the ancient food preparation techniques of the Gascon region, many of which are rooted in old farmhouse practices. The name is no misnomer; Gascons raise and consume a tremendous amount of duck annually and many of the recipes and dishes described in the book center on duck and duck fat. Despite the difficulty of describing a subject that is better experienced firsthand, McAnninch does an admirable job of vividly describing his culinary exploits as well as the finished product, including both successes and failures. Throughout, it is clear that the author's experiences and this resulting memoir were entirely dependent on the goodwill and hospitality of local Gascon residents, who seem to have gamely welcomed the author into their social clubs, dinner parties, kitchens, and pantries.
Many of the scenes conveyed in this book seem straight from the pages of an historical account. For instance, McAnninch is invited to a gathering of a fraternal cooking club where he was able to enjoy a meal fit for "country lords:" "We started with a coarse, peppery homemade pate de campagne, studded with soft fat. After that came a cold lentil salad with gravlax and fresh dill, as refined as the pate was rustic. There were pickled cherry peppers stuffed with brandade. There were chive-topped deviled eggs. And at last the duck steaks, seared on the griddle for no more than a minute a side, perfectly saignant" (69-70). I was also amazed by the author's description of the ingredients and process of making the "tall, conical, hearth-baked confection known as gateau a la broche, 'cake on a spit'" (144), which is made from "thirty-six eggs, three pounds of butter, three pounds of flour, three pounds of sugar, ten packets of vanilla-sugar, one cup of dark rum, one handful of pulverized roasted hazelnuts (preferably from your own hazelnut tree), a generous pinch of salt (preferably from an ancient tin salt cellar nailed to the kitchen wall), and six egg whites for the icing" (145). The result was a three foot tall vertical cake.
I do wish the author had provided a bit more comprehensive historical background on the Basque region early on to help provide context and understanding for the reader. Additionally, the first part of the book seemed to deal mostly with the author's preparation and consummation of (mostly duck-based) meals. I enjoyed the later sections, where he explores the process behind food production including herding sheep and pig slaughtering more interesting and more varied than the rather repetitive description of cooking duck meat.
3.5 stars
March 10, 2019
Makes me want to go to Gascony, drink the wines, eat foie gras, duck confit... and hike in the Pyrénées
May 8, 2018
If you love food and can't travel to the Southwest of France this year, read this book and enjoy a virtual visit!! David McAninch has already been there, then takes his family for an extended visit of several months, establishes them in a rural village and they become part of the community! This is a travel dream I've had over and over, but not yet achieved. We learn about their lovely neighbors, friends of neighbors and their friends! It's an endless connection and on that I followed with relish! This is a book that I did NOT want to end, I wanted to adventure to go on and on!
Be prepared to fall in love with Gascony, the SW part of France!!
Be prepared to fall in love with Gascony, the SW part of France!!
May 29, 2018
Like A Year in Provence, only with a little less condescension and a bit more genuine love for the French neighbors in Gascony. Less funny, but more sweet.
I enjoyed the writing very much--lively descriptions of places and people and events that made me want to hop on a plane and get to Gers as soon as possible. Of course, now that he's written the book, all of us annoying tourists will start going there, and ruin the place. We should all stay home and watch the travel TV shows and read the travel books. instead of trampling all over the globe and taking gazillions of selfies.
But I digress. Read this book! and then go grill some duck breasts and drink some lusty red wine.
I enjoyed the writing very much--lively descriptions of places and people and events that made me want to hop on a plane and get to Gers as soon as possible. Of course, now that he's written the book, all of us annoying tourists will start going there, and ruin the place. We should all stay home and watch the travel TV shows and read the travel books. instead of trampling all over the globe and taking gazillions of selfies.
But I digress. Read this book! and then go grill some duck breasts and drink some lusty red wine.
October 4, 2018
What a wonderful culture & community! I felt like I was in Plaisance with the author and his family. I cried a few times, like in the beginning when Charlotte, the 7 year old American girl, braved her first day of school in France. I laughed a lot too! Loved the author's wife's interjections throughout. I bet folks will travel to Plaisance and seek out Nadine to glean more of her knowledge. Jokester Basso cracked a little when saying good bye! I want to see Patrick's book of Plaisance's faces. I'd like to know more about Francis. "Into the Mountains" was a fun adventure! Maybe the sequel will be when the author buys Martine's estate!
June 9, 2017
The best travel memoirs make you want to visit the location and this one certainly accomplishes that task! Author McAninch spent 8 months in Gascony, France and made excellent use of his time--he learns about foie gras, Armagnac, hunting pigeon, how local wines are made, etc. He even enrolls his young daughter in the local grade school and he and his wife make friends with the locals. Great job and really gives you a feel for the area!
December 13, 2017
This is another book about culture through eating and drinking. The author spends eight months with his family in Southwest France in an attempt become intimately familiar with the region's foods. In the process, the family becomes a part of the culture. I don't have much contact with duck as a food source but it is a fun book. Recipes are at the back but the adventures in their preparation are sprinkled throughout the chapters.
January 16, 2018
Even though I am a totally non-adventurous eater and most of the food described in the book made me cringe, I thoroughly enjoyed Duck Season. David McAninch did a great job of making me feel as if I was in Gascony with his family, and he understands just how much detail to include to create a clear mental image without delving into tedium. He told us about the food he ate, the people he met, and the adventures he had. I felt as if I escaped to France for a few days.
April 19, 2018
This is the kind of warm, self-assured food writing that doesn't exist much anymore. McAninch writes with such quiet detail that every smell and flavor, every memorable character and rustic setting, practically jumps off the page to greet you. What you're left with a desire to travel. And to eat. And not to worry so much about life. Any book that can do that—and do it with style and humor—is worth reading.
April 26, 2018
Ended up really loving this book. It will indeed make you hungry when you read it. You get a great understanding of the culture and community. It would have been helpful if I had some understanding of the French language, but certainly not necessary. Would definitely read anything else by this author. He makes things fun and interesting with great descriptors. Easy to read over the course of a few weeks.
September 6, 2017
One of the best travel memoires I have read so far. It reminds me of "Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson. You can feel a journalist's soul in it, filled with interesting facts not only for culinary lovers but also for "francofans". Like a cherry on top of an ice-cream comes the chapter with recipes featured in the book.
October 26, 2018
Charming tale of time spent in a relatively little-known area of France. I am a sucker for this type of book (stranger in a strange land, particularly if they are American, and especially if they are from Chicago!) and this was a fine addition to the genre. I was surprised to find myself tearing up at the end of the book and McAninch's time in Gascony.
August 22, 2017
I have read a lot of similar books and for some reason, this book did not resonate with me. It fell flat. There was something missing. I think it read more like a homework assignment than someone writing about a place he loves.
October 27, 2017
Loved it. Can't wait to go to Gascony, where my daughter is teaching English in Auch and have found the Gascons very friendly. His writing is very good, love all the descriptions of food, people and the area.
April 13, 2018
Shows the way to be a real francophile...
To live the way the locals live, cook the way the local cook, social network authentically...most of us dream along...McAninch made it happened and took me along...
To live the way the locals live, cook the way the local cook, social network authentically...most of us dream along...McAninch made it happened and took me along...
June 21, 2018
As others write, it is similar to Mayle collections (other than the change of geography). Easy to read, interesting stories, especially topics central to this book (i.e. confit, gravage) but could use a little more character development. Still, recommended for travel fans.
August 15, 2018
Clever and companionable. McAninch is a fine writer. Gascony really comes alive to me. I lived in England for some time, in a small town in Somerset, and that village life is just not really here anymore in US. And we need it.
April 27, 2017
An entire book about culinary adventures in the southwest of France...taken a couple chapters at a time this book was enjoyable.
May 3, 2017
A book I was sad to see end. I am ready now to travel to Gascony and meet this cast of characters, drink some wine, and dine on duck confit.
December 5, 2017
Yet another one of those "American Expatriate in Southern France" sort of books. A book about how people down there eat and party. Not so bad, but definitely for those who like their Duck.
February 22, 2018
An enjoyable book, even though I'm unlikely to ever visit that region of France, and a lot of the food he was excited about was unappetizing to me. Loved the description of pigeon hunting.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews