The Food of France

While this might sound like a cookbook, it's actually a travelogue focusing on the foods of various regions in France. Instead of providing information on what visitors should see during their travels, Waverly Root reveals what they should eat. Root, who made his living as a foreign correspondent and has written several volumes on his penchant for food, is an excellent guide whose descriptions will convince globetrotters that there's much more to travel than sightseeing. The book, along with Root's The Food of Italy won the 1990 James Beard Cookbook Award.