I happily believe there are way more food related events in France than anywhere else in the world. This is no exception. The Salon International du Livre Gourmand combines two of France’s (and my) favorite things: food and books. Granted, I am notorious for never following a recipe from top to bottom (it’s a recipe-related chronic disease I can’t seem to shake off, I swear) mais bon I do love cookbooks, nevertheless.

This international cookbook fair, held in Périgueux (southwest France), while much more than cookbooks, is much less than international. Perhaps this three day event (held every other year) has been more international in the past but this year focuses mainly on France with Portugal as a special guest-country of honor.

If you attend you’ll be rubbing shoulders with 70 French and Portuguese book publishers and about 150 hot chefs and recipe writers from France and Portugal competing for one of three awards: – Les Prix La Mazille, Le Prix La Mazille International, and Le Prix de La Ville de Périgueux. A separate prize will be awarded to an 18-year old (or younger) cookbook author.

The Salon will also be offering a special train (Train des Saveurs) from Paris to Périgueux, and once there, there’ll be special round table discussions, demonstrations, symposiums, dinners, competitions, and tastings. How can you pass up all of that? You’ll get all the latest developments in cuisine, trends, recipes and techniques and meet famous chefs and writers.

And to complete this very fulfilling experience, you absolutely can NOT miss this little kooky part of the Salon. On November 18 at 3:00 pm, you must partake in La Dictée Gourmande; it’s the very French wretched activity: dictation!! You heard right. It’s a dictation. When I saw the description, I thought, “this is so weird YET so French.” Just like during my French classes where we were to transcribe what was being dictated (that I would completely fail), the same applies here: you get to do the same but I guess the subject of the dictation is related to food. The dictation will take place at the amphithéâtre Jean Moulin de la Bibliothèque municipale. Am I the only one that finds this event strange? (Maybe not strange but definitely not fun.) Anyway, you must register if you’d like to participate in the dictation. Send an email to: bm-perigueux@wanadoo.fr

Back to the Salon. Make sure to check out the program for all three days. There are so many excellent topics and events to choose from, it will be hard to decide what to do. Some things I’d consider interesting: A roundtable discussion titled, « Le chocolat »with Yves Thuriès, Pierre Hermé, Christophe Felder, Thierry Barot, Florence Hernandez Grande salle du théâtre (Nov. 18, 5:30 pm); A Bread Demonstration, « Le Pain » with Richard Bertinet et Apollonia Poilâne (Nov. 18, Noon)…there’s so much – anyway, all the demos seem worth attending as well as discussions, and of course the tastings!

The winning writers are announced on the last day of the Salon.

Salon International du Livre Gourmand / International Cook Book Fair
November 17-19, 2006 (held every other year)
Nouveau Théâtre d’Aquitaine (The theatre has one auditorium and spaces for other cultural projects)
Avenue d’Aquitaine, Périgueux, Dordogne, Aquitaine 24000, France
Tel 33) 05 53 53 18 71
Website: Salon International du Livre Gourmand