Taste the World in Marseille: Marseille Cuisine by the Marseillais

The oldest and second largest city in France, Marseille is France’s gateway to the Mediterranean and much of the world beyond. The bustling port city is well represented in this colorful survey of the city’s home cooks, restaurants, and food shops.

Both a cookbook and a guide book, Taste the World in Marseille strives to offer a very modern portrait of the city’s food scene. Its 288-pages are energetically designed, its narrative dashing from profiles of street food vendors and urban farmers to Michelin-starred chefs and neighborhood bakers.

There are laments for bouillabaisse (“Fish is expensive. We are proud of it but can no longer afford it in the restaurants that make a decent one,”) and a host of vividly rendered characters who produce or simply consume the city’s food. Recipes pop up here and there, some traditional, others very much of the moment.

If you’ve been on the fence about making a visit to the city, this will help you decide in favor.

Paperback. Color photographs throughout.