First Look: Anne-Sophie Pic's Cookbook Le Livre Blanc

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Here's the first look at French chef Anne-Sophie Pic's Le Livre Blanc. Pic runs the three-Michelin star Maison Pic in Valence, which was founded by her great-grandmother Sophie in 1889 and has seen four generations of Pics at its stoves. This is her first cookbook in English, and she goes all out for it: the book, as one might guess from the title, is white, inside and out. The laser cut slipcover slides off to reveal more white inside, with many of the pages largely blank. (Because Pic's "unstoppable creativity hasn't yet finished filling blank pages.") The first half of the book is photography; the second is recipes. It is simple and it is stark and stunning.

According to the brief introduction, the whiteness of the book evokes Pic's cooking, chef's whites and "can be read as a manifesto of femininity." It would be nice to get through a writeup of this book without bringing up the fact that Pic is a woman (in the grand scheme of grand restaurants, who cares?) but the subject seems unavoidable when so few of her peers are choosing to produce restaurant books of this quality. In fact, the singularity of the book almost explains the starkness: there's no room for frivolity, just serious recipes and serious food porn. The book has both in great quantities. Le Livre Blanc by Anne-Sophie Pic comes out from Jacqui Small on September 1 (pre-order on Amazon); more photos below.

· All Anne-Sophie Pic Coverage on Eater [-E-]
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