Found Meals of the Lost Generation: Recipes and Anecdotes from 1920's Paris

Smitten by a long-ago era, Rodriguez-Hunter offers what she calls an ``edible time machine,'' or a re-creation of the meals of American expatriates in Paris. Chapters focus on famous couples of the day and the food they shared with the rest of their thriving community. The reader roams from the staid tea of Gertrude Stein's home to the sensual overload offered by artist Man Ray and his muse, Kiki, and from the cycle races of Hemingway to the salon of Picasso, where at a joyous celebration for an aging Matisse, a donkey wanders in and eats Alice B. Toklas's hat. The meals themselves, however, retain little of their creators' flair. Surprisingly bland entries for cocoa and boiled potatoes compete with far too many recipes that call for rabbit. Additionally, the recipes are laid out in paragraphs, making the food easier to read about than to cook. But Rodriguez-Hunter ably captures the excitement and romance of the period, and her description of Langston Hughes bidding farewell to his lover over heavy cream and tiny strawberries is particularly moving. (Nov.)