In his nostalgic review of his Rabelaisian initiation into life�s finer pleasures, Liebling celebrates the richness and variety of French food, fondly recalling great meals and memorable wines. He writes with awe and a touch of envy of his friend and mentor Yves Mirande, �one of the last great gastronomes of France,� who would dispatch a lunch of �raw Bayonne ham and fresh figs, a hot sausage in crust, spindles of filleted pike in a rich rose sauce Nantua, a leg of lamb larded with anchovies, artichokes on a pedestal of foie gras, and four or five kinds of cheese, with a good bottle of Bordeaux and one of Champagne�?all before beginning to contemplate dinner.In A.J. Liebling, a great writer and a great eater became one, for he offers readers a rare and bountiful feast in this delectable book.With an introduction by James Salter, PEN/Faulkner Award-winning author of A Sport and a Pastime