One More Croissant for the Road

‘Joyful, life-affirming, greedy. I loved it’ – DIANA HENRY

‘Whether you are an avid cyclist, a Francophile, a greedy gut, or simply an appreciator of impeccable writing – this book will get you hooked’ – YOTAM OTTOLENGHI

The nation’s ‘taster in chief’ cycles 2,300 km across France in search of the definitive versions of classic French dishes.

A green bike drunkenly weaves its way up a cratered hill in the late-morning sun, the gears grinding painfully, like a pepper mill running on empty. The rider crouched on top in a rictus of pain has slowed to a gravity-defying crawl when, from somewhere nearby, the whine of a nasal engine breaks through her ragged breathing.
A battered van appears behind her, the customary cigarette dangling from its driver’s-side window… as he passes, she casually reaches down for some water, smiling broadly in the manner of someone having almost too much fun. ‘No sweat,’ she says jauntily to his retreating exhaust pipe. ‘Pas de problème, monsieur.’

A land of glorious landscapes, and even more glorious food, France is a place built for cycling and for eating, too – a country large enough to give any journey an epic quality, but with a bakery on every corner. Here, you can go from beach to mountain, Atlantic to Mediterranean, polder to Pyrenees, and taste the difference every time you stop for lunch. If you make it to lunch, that is…

Part travelogue, part food memoir, all love letter to France, One More Croissant for the Road follows ‘the nation’s taster in chief’ Felicity Cloake’s very own Tour de France, cycling 2,300km across France in search of culinary perfection; from Tarte Tatin to Cassoulet via Poule au Pot, and Tartiflette. Each of the 21 ‘stages’ concludes with Felicity putting this new found knowledge to good use in a fresh and definitive recipe for each dish – the culmination of her rigorous and thorough investigative work on behalf of all of our taste buds.

• After running the popular ‘How to Cook the Perfect’ column in the Guardian for over ten years, Felicity is a familiar voice in the cookery writing scene.
• She is incredibly well connected, hosting events as well as appearing on Podcasts and in the media year round. Her endorsement quote list is almost unparalleled.
• Her social following is engaged (IG 48k, T 29k) and passionate.
• People follow Felicity for her cycling, and her food writing and general ‘Nation’s Tastemaker’ opinion on anything worth having an opinion on.
• Comps: Toast by Nigel Slater (240k TCM), The Way We Eat Now by Bee Wilson (4.9k TCM), Eat Up by Ruby Tandoh (9.5k TCM), My Good Life in France (3.6k TCM) by Janine Marsh, Perfect by Felicity Cloake (13k TCM)

Competition: How to Eat a Peach Simple Midnight Chicken Salt Fat Acid Heat Kitchen Confidential Modern Way How to Eat Up The Quick Roasting Tin Vegetarian Pinch of Nom Flavour Thersaurus . Diana Henry Yotam Ottolenghi Ella Risbridger Samin Nosrat Nigella Lawson Nigel Slater Anna Jones Ruby Tandoh Rukmini Iyer