The New Paris by Lindsey Tramuta

Not exactly what I was expecting, but still a helpful and inspirational resource for planning our upcoming trip to France.

The book expounds on the movement in Paris, that started perhaps a decade ago, to rejuvenate much of its epicurean offerings.  Because cuisine is such a part of the French experience, the culinary offerings had ironically become stale.  Massive tourism, French love of the past, globalization of brands, and French bureaucracy all played a role in stifling innovation.

But a new breed of entrepreneurs, foodies and upstarts have reinvented food, drink, shopping and more in the French capital.

The overall arc of this story did remind me of the story of French impressionism.  In much the same way, the Salon and the French aristocracy stifled innovation in French art in the 19th century.  Everyone laughed at the new impressionists in the same way many laughed at the new food movement of recent years.

History, apparently, does repeat itself.