Another who has had his fair share of criticism recently is Beloki, who struggled to recover from last year's horror crash in the Tour de France before splitting with team Brioches la Boulangere just before this year's race.

BBC: Top names primed for Vuelta

An even more egregious omission, given that this book attempts to look at how cuisine defines French culture as a whole, is visual art: there is no mention of the sumptuous culinary still-lifes by Chardin, the countless Impressionist picnics, brioches by Bonnard or mealtimes by Matisse, images that have literally transformed food into art in a specifically French way.

ECONOMIST: French cuisine