David realized the elements of her ideal and described it in “Eating out in Provincial France.” “There has to be water,” she declares, “and from that point of view, France is wonderful picnic country, so rich in magnificent rivers, waterfalls, reservoirs, that it is rare not to be able to find some delicious spot where you can sit by the water, watch dragonflies and listen to the birds or to the beguiling sound of a fast-flowing stream. As you drink wine from a tumbler, sprinkle your bread with olive oil and salt, and eat it with ripe tomatoes or rough country sausage, you feel better off than in even the most perfect restaurant. During one golden September in the valleys of the Corrèze, the Dordogne and the Lot, I enjoyed just such picnics, day after blazing day.”
See (1950, rev. 1962); French Country Cooking (1951, rev. 1958); Summer Cooking (1955, rev. 1965); An Omelette and a Glass of Wine. Jill Norman (ed). (1984 ); “Eating out in Provincial France” was published in Petits Propos Culinare (1980); Pageants & Picnics (2005)