The Alice B. Toklas Cookbook By Alice B. Toklas Writer Gertrude Stein's companion, Alice B. Toklas, was considered the quieter and less charismatic half of the couple, although of equal intelligence. It wasn't until Stein's death in 1946 that Toklas found her own voice and wrote her eponymous cookbook, which remains in print today. The couple's life in France, starting in the early 20th century, sounds as though it was often glamorous - at least when there weren't any wars on. Toklas starts off one recipe, 'One day when Picasso was to lunch with us ...' And many other dishes are introduced in a similar fashion. However, Toklas wasn't just name-dropping; the two counted artists and writers such as Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and Ernest Hemingway as friends. The American expatriates employed cooks who were culinary masters. They made fairly simple dishes, rather than restaurant-quality haute cuisine, but the food was refined and delicate. Toklas and Stein liked to eat and they wouldn't have tolerated anything less. Toklas was also a good cook, stepping into the kitchen on the frequent occasions they were without competent help. Chapters include Dishes for Artists; Food in French Homes; Murder in the Kitchen (in which Toklas describes her first attempt at smothering live pigeons so they could be cooked, writing, 'the realisation came to me that one saw with one's fingertips, as well as one's eyes'); Servants in France; and Food in the Bugey During the Occupation. Recipes include the notorious haschich fudge (yes, it contains cannabis); a delicious hazelnut tart; roasted saddle of young boar; and grilled perch with fennel.
