Review of Le Pain Quotidien: Poems on the Pleasures of Life, by David Wansbrough

"In this book of poetry, David celebrates the senses, especially that of taste but also touch and sight.

Epicurean that he is, he has savoured roast sheep skull ears in Marrickville, Madeleines in Paris, wild boar and kumara in New Zealand, caviar in Moscow, wild strawberries in the Russian countryside, shark on the Black Sea, iced mint water in Istanbul, coffee and cakes in Vienna, carp with ginger sauce in China, clam chowder in San Francisco, as well as turbot, oysters, coffee, many different varieties of breads, marmalade, eel, hedgehogs, honey, sardines.

Every meal for David is a sacrament, to be relished with every touch of lip and tongue, appreciated with heart and mind and yes, the soul.

He knows the origins of the fare before him on marble or wooden table and, like indigenous peoples the world over, expresses gratitude for the bounty that the earth yields up before consuming it with reverence.

And let’s not forget David delightful sense of humour in poems such as “Salad Afternoons” where he pokes gentle fun at the “Ladies who lunch like salads”

Caroline Webber is to be congratulated for producing such a lovely volume under her imprint Green Olive Press, and I commend the book to you."

IRINA DUNN, Director, Australian Writers Network

Le pain quotidien is available from: www.greenolivepress.com