Marcel Rouff's The Passionate Epicure (1920) is a novel, as its title and cover suggest, about food. The novel follows Dodin-Bouffant, a well-known bachelor with a tremendous passion for fine dining and love—namely, for women. Dodin-Bouffant is also a chef; he owns a restaurant and employs several people. The novel chronicles his personal life, his trials and tribulations, and his experiences running his restaurant in the face of sometimes insurmountable challenges. For instance, one of Dodin-Bouffant's cooks tragically dies, forcing him to change himself and his restaurant.
Rouff's novel is considered a classic of French literature. Similarly, it is considered a classic novel about food and chefs. Despite being published over 100 years ago, the novel is still in print and is still widely read by academics and readers across the world. In their review of a later edition of the novel, Kirkus Reviews wrote that, "For all its deliberate rodomontage, [The Passionate Epicure] sits as lightly as a and provides a kind of gourmet entertainment."
