Colin Marshall talks to longtime Slate wine columnist Michael Steinberger, author of Au Revoir to All That: Food, Wine and the End of France.

An ardent culinary Francophile in earlier decades, Steinberger has,

along with much of the rest of the food world, come to realize that a

malaise has fallen upon the cuisine that once led the world in taste,

artistry, experience and sophistication. Steinberger’s book chronicles

the history of French food, the recent developments that have forced it

to face tough competition from countries like Spain and the United

States and the importance of such things as the legality of lait cru cheese, the effects of viticultural subsidies and the fall of the once-almighty Michelin guide.