On the occasion of Gourmet Live’s June 6, 2012, issue saluting Food Jobs, we are pleased to reprint this early article by the late, great dean of professional food criticism, Craig Claiborne. In The Man Who Changed the Way We Eat, a 2012 biography of Claiborne, author Thomas McNamee recounts how Gourmet’s Ann Seranne assigned him his first article for the magazine....

The sages divided this world into four elements: earth, air fire and water. If these philosophers had been cooks as well, they would have included a fifth element—garlic.

Volcanic hills, Romanesque churches and fortified towns overshadow the elemental, pork scented cookery of this noble and dramatic province.

The sombre frontier bastion which produced Jeanne d'Arc and Verdun has its lighter moments for the delectation of Quiche Lorraine and Bar-le-Duc jam.