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Immoveable Feast
A witty cultural and culinary education, Immoveable Feast is the charming, funny, and improbable tale of how a man who was raised on white bread—and didn't speak a word of French—unexpectedly ended up with the sacred duty of preparing the annual Christmas dinner for a venerable Parisian family. Ernest Hemingway called Paris "a moveable feast"—a city ready to embrace you at any time in life. For Los Angeles–based film critic John Baxter, that moment came when he fell in love with a French woman and impulsively moved to Paris to marry her. As a test of his love, his skeptical in-laws charged him with cooking the next Christmas banquet—for eighteen people in their ancestral country home. Baxter's memoir of his yearlong quest takes readers along his misadventures and delicious triumphs as he visits the farthest corners of France in search of the country's best recipes and ingredients. Irresistible and fascinating, Immoveable Feast is a warmhearted tale of good food, romance, family, and the Christmas spirit, Parisian style.
290 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 10, 2008
65 people are currently reading
883 people want to read
About the author
John Baxter
226 books123 followersJohn Baxter (born 1939 in Randwick, New South Wales) is an Australian-born writer, journalist, and film-maker.
Baxter has lived in Britain and the United States as well as in his native Sydney, but has made his home in Paris since 1989, where he is married to the film-maker Marie-Dominique Montel. They have one daughter, Louise.
He began writing science fiction in the early 1960s for New Worlds, Science Fantasy and other British magazines. His first novel, though serialised in New Worlds as THE GOD KILLERS, was published as a book in the US by Ace as The Off-Worlders. He was Visiting Professor at Hollins College in Virginia in 1975-1976. He has written a number of short stories and novels in that genre and a book about SF in the movies, as well as editing collections of Australian science fiction.
Baxter has also written a large number of other works dealing with the movies, including biographies of film personalities, including Federico Fellini, Luis Buñuel, Steven Spielberg, Stanley Kubrick, Woody Allen, George Lucas and Robert De Niro. He has written a number of documentaries, including a survey of the life and work of the painter Fernando Botero. He also co-produced, wrote and presented three television series for the Australian Broadcasting Commission, Filmstruck, First Take and The Cutting Room, and was co-editor of the ABC book programme Books And Writing.
In the 1960s, he was a member of the WEA Film Study Group with such notable people as Ian Klava, Frank Moorhouse, Michael Thornhill, John Flaus and Ken Quinnell. From July 1965 to December 1967 the WEA Film Study Group published the cinema journal FILM DIGEST. This journal was edited by John Baxter.
For a number of years in the sixties, he was active in the Sydney Film Festival, and during the 1980s served in a consulting capacity on a number of film-funding bodies, as well as writing film criticism for The Australian and other periodicals. Some of his books have been translated into various languages, including Japanese and Chinese.
Since moving to Paris, he has written four books of autobiography, A Pound of Paper: Confessions of a Book Addict, We'll Always Have Paris: Sex and Love in the City of Light, Immoveable feast : a Paris Christmas, and The Most Beautiful Walk in the World : a Pedestrian in Paris.
Since 2007 he has been co-director of the annual Paris Writers Workshop.
Baxter has lived in Britain and the United States as well as in his native Sydney, but has made his home in Paris since 1989, where he is married to the film-maker Marie-Dominique Montel. They have one daughter, Louise.
He began writing science fiction in the early 1960s for New Worlds, Science Fantasy and other British magazines. His first novel, though serialised in New Worlds as THE GOD KILLERS, was published as a book in the US by Ace as The Off-Worlders. He was Visiting Professor at Hollins College in Virginia in 1975-1976. He has written a number of short stories and novels in that genre and a book about SF in the movies, as well as editing collections of Australian science fiction.
Baxter has also written a large number of other works dealing with the movies, including biographies of film personalities, including Federico Fellini, Luis Buñuel, Steven Spielberg, Stanley Kubrick, Woody Allen, George Lucas and Robert De Niro. He has written a number of documentaries, including a survey of the life and work of the painter Fernando Botero. He also co-produced, wrote and presented three television series for the Australian Broadcasting Commission, Filmstruck, First Take and The Cutting Room, and was co-editor of the ABC book programme Books And Writing.
In the 1960s, he was a member of the WEA Film Study Group with such notable people as Ian Klava, Frank Moorhouse, Michael Thornhill, John Flaus and Ken Quinnell. From July 1965 to December 1967 the WEA Film Study Group published the cinema journal FILM DIGEST. This journal was edited by John Baxter.
For a number of years in the sixties, he was active in the Sydney Film Festival, and during the 1980s served in a consulting capacity on a number of film-funding bodies, as well as writing film criticism for The Australian and other periodicals. Some of his books have been translated into various languages, including Japanese and Chinese.
Since moving to Paris, he has written four books of autobiography, A Pound of Paper: Confessions of a Book Addict, We'll Always Have Paris: Sex and Love in the City of Light, Immoveable feast : a Paris Christmas, and The Most Beautiful Walk in the World : a Pedestrian in Paris.
Since 2007 he has been co-director of the annual Paris Writers Workshop.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 191 reviews
August 9, 2017
It is a common assumption that writing with a beautiful flow that is easy to read, is easy to write. Well that’s not strictly true. It’s generally, in my opinion, the result of one of two things. Either the simplicity, readability and elegance are achieved by diligence on the part of the author - rereading, refining over and over, often working hard to combine different elements smoothly in one paragraph. Or in the case of the few - it's down to the sheer skill of the writer who is very gifted in being clear, precise and in the case of John Baxter funny as well. He has quite simply, from what I can gather of his long career, become very good at easy to read and enjoyable writing that you can’t imagine him slaving over.
This book is the story, with lots of back stories (including the very first Christmas that Baxter enjoyed with his wife Mary Dominique’s family) of preparing and cooking the enormous family dinner.
The first chapter is the story of the very first Christmas with his French wife’s family and how he regaled them with a story about George Johnston tasting a lot of French wines in 1947. In chapter two he details how he is unable to make his mother’s christmas pudding in London and also a Christmas dinner back in Australia with Marie Dominique. Back home he discovers that his father still has some of his wine in the garage including a 1962 bottle of Penfolds Grange Hermitage:
“It should breathe a bit,” I said, reaching for the corkscrew.
The wine was sublime, an explosion on the palate, with, as the Japanese say, a tail that went right down the throat. Each sip recalled something said by the seventeenth century poet George Herbert, but adopted as a motto by Gerald an Sara Murphy, friends of Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald and the inspiration for Dick and Nicole Driver in Tender is the Night: “Living well is the best revenge.”
And here’s the funny thing: it went particularly well with Christmas pudding.”
Through the rest of the book we find out a bit of Baxter’s history, including how he learned to cook in the early 1960s, that his first wife Joyce was American, how he met Marie Do, as well as all the ingredients that are required for a French Christmas dinner. There are various shopping expeditions, stories about France and the French and generally what it is like to enjoy A Paris Christmas. This is, of course, a very easy to read and enjoyable book.
This book is the story, with lots of back stories (including the very first Christmas that Baxter enjoyed with his wife Mary Dominique’s family) of preparing and cooking the enormous family dinner.
The first chapter is the story of the very first Christmas with his French wife’s family and how he regaled them with a story about George Johnston tasting a lot of French wines in 1947. In chapter two he details how he is unable to make his mother’s christmas pudding in London and also a Christmas dinner back in Australia with Marie Dominique. Back home he discovers that his father still has some of his wine in the garage including a 1962 bottle of Penfolds Grange Hermitage:
“It should breathe a bit,” I said, reaching for the corkscrew.
The wine was sublime, an explosion on the palate, with, as the Japanese say, a tail that went right down the throat. Each sip recalled something said by the seventeenth century poet George Herbert, but adopted as a motto by Gerald an Sara Murphy, friends of Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald and the inspiration for Dick and Nicole Driver in Tender is the Night: “Living well is the best revenge.”
And here’s the funny thing: it went particularly well with Christmas pudding.”
Through the rest of the book we find out a bit of Baxter’s history, including how he learned to cook in the early 1960s, that his first wife Joyce was American, how he met Marie Do, as well as all the ingredients that are required for a French Christmas dinner. There are various shopping expeditions, stories about France and the French and generally what it is like to enjoy A Paris Christmas. This is, of course, a very easy to read and enjoyable book.
March 9, 2009
A surprisingly substance-free book that left me wondering why I ever picked it up. I generally find something redeemable in all food writing, but this book feels as if Mr. Baxter was offered the opportunity to write something, was fishing around for an easy subject to cover, happened to be cooking a Christmas dinner for his family, and decided to simply put down on paper the various stages and information about each part of the meal and the holiday. A totally insignificant work that felt shallow and self-serving: the literary equivalent of a pavlova - light and sweet with little actual susbstance. Frankly, his efforts to impress upon the reader how very French an Aussie can become after years of living in France is really quite obnoxious and rather boring. Overall, I was tremendously underwhelmed.
January 3, 2016
Less charming than expected, but still a lightly enjoyable read.
January 1, 2024
Every year I read a holiday themed book at Christmas time, and this year’s may be my very favorite! John Baxter can write prose and totally transported me to Christmas with adopted family in France! I was living every moment with him! It probably helped that I lived in Europe and had the joy of learning Christmas in a European culture. I lived every priceless moment with John and his wife in this wonderful book!
December 25, 2020
What a delightful read! I fell in love with Pascal the pig. 🐷😍 Baxter made every dish come to life. I so wanted to be a guest at that Christmas dinner. Learning some the of differences in customs between the French and Americans was a great sub-text.
Don’t bring wine or cheese as gift when invited to dinner.
The French don’t give a sh** about a guest’s food allergies. ( Kind of feel the same way)
Don’t bring wine or cheese as gift when invited to dinner.
The French don’t give a sh** about a guest’s food allergies. ( Kind of feel the same way)
December 17, 2025
It was a nice and charming read.... without any substance. To be honest I am impressed how nice and charming it is and yet so pointless :)
September 5, 2017
A nice little book about Baxter's integration into his wife's French family and what he goes through each year to cook s memorable Christmas dinner.
December 19, 2020
Very enjoyable read, although it would seem to be a Christmas theme, this book could be enjoyed any time of the year. I've been to Paris once, too short of a stay, after reading this book, I know I have to return and return and return, for the food of course, but to walk the streets in all the seasons.
December 30, 2023
I don’t usually read Christmas books, but in some ways, this isn’t a Christmas book. John Baxter, an Australian, but married to a French woman and living in Paris, documents all of the foods, beverages and other accoutrements needed to prepare a Christmas feast for his wife’s family. In the process, he relates stories from his life that are both revealing of who he is and absolutely charming. Highly recommended.
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December 18, 2023When I was younger I studied the French language at school, hoping one day to visit without the tag of "ugly American" pinned to my shirt. Now, many years later, without the benefit of having experienced the country for myself, I pick up this little book a week before Christmas. Immediately I grasp the feeling that France and indeed Paris itself, when it is open for business, will welcome you and your wallet with open arms. If it is not, it won't.
Reviews from other readers tell me the author sheds some light on the whys and wherefores of certain French customs as well as the challenges he undertakes of cooking for his wife's French family.
This didn't bring me along for the ride, unfortunately. The cheese not only stands alone, it stands a good distance from me, unwilling to make my acquaintance.
Off you go, little book.
Reviews from other readers tell me the author sheds some light on the whys and wherefores of certain French customs as well as the challenges he undertakes of cooking for his wife's French family.
This didn't bring me along for the ride, unfortunately. The cheese not only stands alone, it stands a good distance from me, unwilling to make my acquaintance.
Off you go, little book.
December 30, 2014
January 4, 2010
This was my favorite holiday book of the year, a Christmas present from my son. John Baxter (who I never even heard of...) is funny and true as he tells the story of preparing Christmas dinner (and many memories of Christmases past)for his wife's family. I loved the food; I loved the writing and what is not to like about a man who cooks, espcially a man who names his Christmas pig!
A couple of my favorite quotes:
"To the French, sin - provided it is conceived with imagination and carried off with flair - is like the dust on an old bottle of burgundy, the streaks of gray in the hair of a loved one, the gleam of long, loving use on the mahogany of an ancient cabinet. It's evidence of endurance, of survival, of life."
"Proust was right. Any house or garden or town existed only as the sum of the feelings experienced there. It was remembering history and maintaining tradition that kept the material world alive."
"Every meal is a world of its own, from which we emerge, however subtly, changed."
Reading this book may become one of my personal holiday traditions.
December 29, 2014
It took me years, but I finally got around to reading this again. And I liked it as much as the first time. I have a shelf of Christmas books, but this is my favorite.
This was my favorite holiday book of the year, a Christmas present from my son. John Baxter (who I never even heard of...) is funny and true as he tells the story of preparing Christmas dinner (and many memories of Christmases past)for his wife's family. I loved the food; I loved the writing and what is not to like about a man who cooks, espcially a man who names his Christmas pig!
A couple of my favorite quotes:
"To the French, sin - provided it is conceived with imagination and carried off with flair - is like the dust on an old bottle of burgundy, the streaks of gray in the hair of a loved one, the gleam of long, loving use on the mahogany of an ancient cabinet. It's evidence of endurance, of survival, of life."
"Proust was right. Any house or garden or town existed only as the sum of the feelings experienced there. It was remembering history and maintaining tradition that kept the material world alive."
"Every meal is a world of its own, from which we emerge, however subtly, changed."
Reading this book may become one of my personal holiday traditions.
December 29, 2014
It took me years, but I finally got around to reading this again. And I liked it as much as the first time. I have a shelf of Christmas books, but this is my favorite.
December 3, 2011
Review coming in December!
Short summary - really enjoyed it! Made me want Christmas in France as part of a French family with a fantastic cook! Not as a guest....or the cook!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One day I was listening to The Book Show on our ABC and they interviewed an Australian author who had spent many years living in Paris after shorter stints in the US and Britain. They were talking about his book The Most Beautiful Walk in the World: a Pedestrian in Paris and given my infatuation with all things Paris recently I knew I wanted to read it. Unfortunately, my library didn't have it but they did have this book! Whilst I still want to read that one this was a worthy substitute!
John Baxter grew up in country Australia and dined on the bland food that was staple of the past. Whilst now Australian cuisine is varied, multicultural and based on fresh ingredients, it wasn't always the case. Baxter compares the Australia of his past and share how he learned to cook, how he impressed dates by being able to cook after he left Australia and compares and contrasts both the different dining experiences of the various countries he has lived in around the world and the way that Christmas is celebrated in Australia and France.
Head to to read my whole review.
Short summary - really enjoyed it! Made me want Christmas in France as part of a French family with a fantastic cook! Not as a guest....or the cook!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One day I was listening to The Book Show on our ABC and they interviewed an Australian author who had spent many years living in Paris after shorter stints in the US and Britain. They were talking about his book The Most Beautiful Walk in the World: a Pedestrian in Paris and given my infatuation with all things Paris recently I knew I wanted to read it. Unfortunately, my library didn't have it but they did have this book! Whilst I still want to read that one this was a worthy substitute!
John Baxter grew up in country Australia and dined on the bland food that was staple of the past. Whilst now Australian cuisine is varied, multicultural and based on fresh ingredients, it wasn't always the case. Baxter compares the Australia of his past and share how he learned to cook, how he impressed dates by being able to cook after he left Australia and compares and contrasts both the different dining experiences of the various countries he has lived in around the world and the way that Christmas is celebrated in Australia and France.
Head to to read my whole review.
November 29, 2009
This is definitely a case of the right book at the right time...This Thanksgiving weekend I was looking for something warm, light, cozy to get me into the holiday spirit. John Baxter is an Australian writer living in Paris with his French wife. He is also the chef for the family Christmas dinner. Baxter takes us through his menu planning, trips to find the best oysters, cheese, etc. Along the way he tells stories about his first dinner with the family, being a fish-out-of-water in France, and French customs and quirks mostly centering around food. This is very light, easy reading fare but perfect to get you into the holiday spirit of food and family.
May 4, 2019
I've been reading a book aloud to Candy before we fall to sleep some nights. It's really fun, I absolutely love it, but it needs the right book. We're naturally interested in anything featuring Paris, but I'm not much of a fiction reader, and it can't be TOO dry as non-fiction. Some sort of memoir or travelogue would seem to be best. There are a lot of those with Paris, but it's still been a challenge to find the good ones for US. This wasn't quite on the mark, either, but it wasn't bad. It's about the long preparation and family traditions of a French Christmas dinner, although the author is an Australian ex-pat.
August 21, 2017
A predictable story: **spoilers** a man meets a French woman, falls in love, meets the terrifying French family who don't really speak English etc. Maybe it's familiar for me because I've lived a similar story. But what is really fascinating is the evident love of food that the author has - exquisite and nostalgic descriptions of French foods that are just unreachable in Australia. If you've ever explored south-west France you'll immediately miss the wine, fresh oysters and markets. An easy read that's somewhat amusing, but more so annoying (just cook me dinner already!)
May 25, 2017
This book was okay. I kept thinking to myself, isn't this supposed to be epic? I've heard so much about it. It took me longer than it should have to realize that this wasn't A Moveable Feast. HUGE source of confusion for me and many people who saw me reading it. Nonetheless, I did read the whole thing and didn't quit partway through. It was a decent story, but really nothing to supremely recommend it.
July 7, 2017
Food and Paris: hard to go wrong. Entertaining, but self-indulgent and thin.
December 3, 2017
I definitely wanted to be invited to a traditional family dinner in France at Christmas time.
December 13, 2021
Totally fell in love with this book! I have never ever felt inclined to reread anything. I want to reread Immovable Feast until I can quote passages from heart!
December 29, 2020
A quick-witted, earthy, and informative read.
With humor and no loss of respect Baxter compares Christmas customs in Paris with those of America and Australia. An instructive wife at his side is endearing and an invaluable aid as he bows to his new family’s traditions. Early on, I mistook the author/cook’s task to be a rite of initiation, he, the new-unproven-relative. Only to eventually learn that the Immoveable Feast was created more than a decade later when another first-time guest (in-utero) had become a teenage granddaughter. Wondering if anyone else was similarly misled. (?)
The author treats us to his Australian mother’s preparation of boiled Christmas pudding, serves up the history of bread in France, waltzes us through a market in India, takes us adventuring to a reclusive French fish market, and shares requirements given a butcher.
If one expected to find recipes in this small volume one would be disappointed. Nevertheless, recipes are unnecessary since the cook describes his processes. “…pork chops pan fried in butter, apples, peeled, heated to nothing with lid—twenty minutes.” In the French manner he values most the quality and specificity of his ingredients. “…French cuisine, I’d come to understand through painful experience, is essentially simple. It relies on precisely isolating and emphasizing the essential flavor of an ingredient, then juxtaposing two or more tastes in a pleasing or surprising harmony.”
All the storytelling, of industry, of perseverance, of obstacles, of serendipity, leads to The Supper—mussels, cheese, pork, apples, let’s not forget the impromptu carrot /cottage cheese pudding, bread, fabulous wine, fruit, cream, eggs, and flame—the ingredients of a picnic transformed into dinner for twenty and delivered like a gift of love. The author recalls Babette’s Feast, by Isak Dinesen.
A cross genre book—memoir + cooking + culture. At times we hear the voice of the bon-vivant raconteur Baxter is, a product of his generation with shades of the macho-sexism that younger male authors might avoid these days. At other times we hear a poet’s reflection on mankind’s physical and spiritual connection with the earth.
With humor and no loss of respect Baxter compares Christmas customs in Paris with those of America and Australia. An instructive wife at his side is endearing and an invaluable aid as he bows to his new family’s traditions. Early on, I mistook the author/cook’s task to be a rite of initiation, he, the new-unproven-relative. Only to eventually learn that the Immoveable Feast was created more than a decade later when another first-time guest (in-utero) had become a teenage granddaughter. Wondering if anyone else was similarly misled. (?)
The author treats us to his Australian mother’s preparation of boiled Christmas pudding, serves up the history of bread in France, waltzes us through a market in India, takes us adventuring to a reclusive French fish market, and shares requirements given a butcher.
If one expected to find recipes in this small volume one would be disappointed. Nevertheless, recipes are unnecessary since the cook describes his processes. “…pork chops pan fried in butter, apples, peeled, heated to nothing with lid—twenty minutes.” In the French manner he values most the quality and specificity of his ingredients. “…French cuisine, I’d come to understand through painful experience, is essentially simple. It relies on precisely isolating and emphasizing the essential flavor of an ingredient, then juxtaposing two or more tastes in a pleasing or surprising harmony.”
All the storytelling, of industry, of perseverance, of obstacles, of serendipity, leads to The Supper—mussels, cheese, pork, apples, let’s not forget the impromptu carrot /cottage cheese pudding, bread, fabulous wine, fruit, cream, eggs, and flame—the ingredients of a picnic transformed into dinner for twenty and delivered like a gift of love. The author recalls Babette’s Feast, by Isak Dinesen.
A cross genre book—memoir + cooking + culture. At times we hear the voice of the bon-vivant raconteur Baxter is, a product of his generation with shades of the macho-sexism that younger male authors might avoid these days. At other times we hear a poet’s reflection on mankind’s physical and spiritual connection with the earth.
December 29, 2024
John Baxter makes an engaging companion through French customs and foibles while sharing briefly the story of how he came to live in a France and become part of a French family. As an Australian, he brings an interesting perspective to this genre of an expat living in France. There is lots of food and encounters with French shopkeepers. I was introduced to the concept of the “griffe,” a person’s individual “best of” or favorite places in a city for eating, shopping and just living. A list of those places where you feel most yourself and where, to paraphrase “Cheers,” not only does “everyone know your name” but also your preferences. These are places that make the city your own and provide a sense of belonging. And that is the story that Baxter ultimately is telling us as he describes how he and his French wife pull together a Christmas feast for her family at their country home. Baxter shares the story of how he came to feel at home in France, become a part of this new French family (with roles and expectations assigned to him, including to prepare the annual family Christmas feast) and create a place and a life for himself in this new country and society. That sometimes elusive sense of belonging and the richness that it brings to life is ultimately the “immoveable feast” of the title.
The final thought that I take away from this book is a Baxter-meditation on Proust and his famous Madeline (of course, Proust has to pop up in a book about France, cooking and baking and Christmas!). “Any house or garden or town existed only as the sum of the feelings experienced there. It was remembering history and maintaining tradition that kept the material world alive.”
Best wishes to all for a happy new year filled with the joy of discovering many new books and the places real or imagined that they transport you to!
The final thought that I take away from this book is a Baxter-meditation on Proust and his famous Madeline (of course, Proust has to pop up in a book about France, cooking and baking and Christmas!). “Any house or garden or town existed only as the sum of the feelings experienced there. It was remembering history and maintaining tradition that kept the material world alive.”
Best wishes to all for a happy new year filled with the joy of discovering many new books and the places real or imagined that they transport you to!
December 14, 2018
Last year we made vacation plans to go to Italy to visit our son who is studying theology in Rome. So, I said to my husband “why not go back to Paris first before going to Rome and revisit where we lived for almost two years?” Of course he agreed! Our home was in Neuilly and I was happy to see that mentioned in this fun book! (Read the part about oysters and you will see Neuilly mentioned!). While there, we naturally walked all over Paris. And a trip to Paris is not the same without a stop at Shakespeare’s Book Store where I found John Baxter’s book. The title on my book reads “A Paris Christmas” - not sure if this is the original title or the other one listed on Goodreads is the updated title? Either way it was just such a FUN book to read! While living there I had the opportunity to take cooking classes by a French woman where I learned SO much - and I could so relate to what was going on here with the story!! Preparing a meal for your in laws is daunting enough but when you are an American and your spouse and in laws are French!! John had a major challenge ahead of him cooking a French Christmas dinner for his in laws!! The pressure was on! Does he succeed? Read the book and find out!😊I loved revisiting places in Paris that he wrote about in this book too. A fun holiday read!!!
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March 21, 2022Sigh... I retrieved a little bit of my lost self through the words of John Baxter as he shared his French family and the culinary delights of a Paris Christmas. Some of my best childhood memories are those of big family gatherings (mostly not at Christmastime) where everything seemed perfect. What was actually perfect was my grandmother, her hospitality, and her ability to put together a feast. She taught me about ingredients and the adventure in assembling them—picking blackberries and pawpaws, foraging for greens, early morning mushroom adventures, and garden harvests.
John Baxter gives so many great details about what takes place at Christmastime in France from a cook's perspective. My favorite chapter was "Apples". I have an affinity for apples, the orchards where they are grown, and the varieties that perfect various dishes. I've never had the pleasure of tasting, or cooking with, a Clochard. I've added it to my list of ingredient adventures (I've already located an orchard in Vermont that grows them) and a recipe is forming in my mind.
John Baxter gives so many great details about what takes place at Christmastime in France from a cook's perspective. My favorite chapter was "Apples". I have an affinity for apples, the orchards where they are grown, and the varieties that perfect various dishes. I've never had the pleasure of tasting, or cooking with, a Clochard. I've added it to my list of ingredient adventures (I've already located an orchard in Vermont that grows them) and a recipe is forming in my mind.
February 19, 2023
John Baxter, and American, finds himself falling in love with a French woman and moving to France.
In an effort to prove his love for her, he takes on the family’s challenge of preparing the Christmas Dinner — not a simple feat.
France’s Christmas is family oriented, not commercial as in the U.S. The focus is on family and food. The meal is the star of the day and usually takes a long time to plan and execute.
This book is the years long planning, told in an entertaining style. The deciding of recipes and the travels to various areas to acquire the necessary ingredients are highlighted by the scenes and people of the locations and some of the misadventures during the searches.
There are culinary illustrations, throughout the book, from the author’s personal collection. These add to the ambiance of the writing.
I read this in a leisurely pace and felt as if I were there.
In an effort to prove his love for her, he takes on the family’s challenge of preparing the Christmas Dinner — not a simple feat.
France’s Christmas is family oriented, not commercial as in the U.S. The focus is on family and food. The meal is the star of the day and usually takes a long time to plan and execute.
This book is the years long planning, told in an entertaining style. The deciding of recipes and the travels to various areas to acquire the necessary ingredients are highlighted by the scenes and people of the locations and some of the misadventures during the searches.
There are culinary illustrations, throughout the book, from the author’s personal collection. These add to the ambiance of the writing.
I read this in a leisurely pace and felt as if I were there.
September 11, 2018
John Baxter describes his first Christmas with his new wife's family in France and subsequent dinners he prepared for them. As an Aussie he took on French ways and French cuisine and became a Frenchman with touches of Australia. Along the way we hear about his journey, the kinds of food, how it is eaten (God forbid that you ever just snack on cheese!!) and revered.
This lighthearted book was okay, but maybe a bit pretentious, even a bit gross? Who would prepare a roast piglet for Christmas dinner having given it a name (Pascal)?
Barely a 3 rating. 2.8 would be a better assessment.
This lighthearted book was okay, but maybe a bit pretentious, even a bit gross? Who would prepare a roast piglet for Christmas dinner having given it a name (Pascal)?
Barely a 3 rating. 2.8 would be a better assessment.
August 7, 2019
This book will make you hungry. It's not necessarily for the food that he's making, but he gets very descriptive about his cooking and I'm all in. So the book was not what I thought it was.
So John married a French woman and moved to France. And he is making Christmas dinner for the entire French family. And it was not a book about a hilarious meal with lots of chaos. It describes how John plans the menu filled with stories about how he learned how to cook and memorable food experiences.
There are a few hiccups in the meal, but nothing big and pretty good. It wasn't a great book, but I liked it.
If anyone wants it, you can have my copy.
So John married a French woman and moved to France. And he is making Christmas dinner for the entire French family. And it was not a book about a hilarious meal with lots of chaos. It describes how John plans the menu filled with stories about how he learned how to cook and memorable food experiences.
There are a few hiccups in the meal, but nothing big and pretty good. It wasn't a great book, but I liked it.
If anyone wants it, you can have my copy.
January 13, 2019
John Baxter is a good story teller. So says his future wife's uncle about midway through this memoir of Christmas feasts. He is that. This particular story concentrates on the French and their unique way of celebrating Christmas through food. Privately, with family and not at a restaurant. So much of the book concerns the author's hunt for the ingredients of a particular Christmas feast that he is cooking. But the book is more than that. It's also part biography, part travelogue, but mostly charming.
January 1, 2019
The perfect Christmas time book--full of juicy stories and pork drippings. Australian John Baxter goes to remote corners of France to find the perfect ingredients for the perfect Christmas dinner for his french in-laws in their country home. His quest is fun to tag along for, and the details about the food and wine will make you want to cook your own masterpiece (or eat someone else's). The eccentricities of food, France and family add to the fun of this quick and delicious read.
April 18, 2019
Second Time Around
I rarely re-read books, but I loved and enjoyed Immoveable Feast so much that I recently read it for a second time. And I have no doubt that I will someday read it again. John Baxter knows how to tell a story and he does so with humor, authority and exceptional writing skills. He reminds me what I love about France and the wonderful people my husband and I have encountered during our memorable travels in France.
I rarely re-read books, but I loved and enjoyed Immoveable Feast so much that I recently read it for a second time. And I have no doubt that I will someday read it again. John Baxter knows how to tell a story and he does so with humor, authority and exceptional writing skills. He reminds me what I love about France and the wonderful people my husband and I have encountered during our memorable travels in France.
May 6, 2021
Oh, John Baxter, I do like you. I'd love to bump into you on the street, to be invited to sit down and to have a meal with you. You'd tell me all sorts of interesting things about the food, about the street we were on, about the wine we were drinking, about life itself!
Baxter writes charming little books, which are chatty, informal, and comfortable to read. I enjoy the gentle, warming passion he brings to his favorite subjects, and wish there was a great deal more of it.
Baxter writes charming little books, which are chatty, informal, and comfortable to read. I enjoy the gentle, warming passion he brings to his favorite subjects, and wish there was a great deal more of it.
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