MARY FRANCES COULD have become a picky eater under her grandmother’s influence. Instead, in rebellion, she began to value pleasure over repression; she would seek out abundance in food, and in life, again and again.

There is something about lunch in France that never fails to overcome any small reserves of willpower that I possess. I can sit down, resolved to be moderate, determined to eat and drink lightly, and be there three hours later, nursing my wine and still open to temptation. I don’t think it’s greed. I think it’s the atmosphere generated by a roomful