You'd wonder how an automobile journalist could combine car testing with cooking lessons but London's Michael Booth managed both during a Paris weekend. And his description is most amusing. There are no cooking hints here and no lengthy paragraphs about technical details as he drove the Renault Grand Espace, often praised as the best people carrier on the planet, in the company of six fellow students. Writing for The Independent, Booth delivers such gems as "I have come to the conclusion that the more splendid a nation's domestic kitchens, the worse its cuisine (Americans microwave their popcorn in grand, marble-lined showrooms; the French make ballotine de volaille à la mousse de foie gras in grubby, two-hob galleys)." About the Espace he writes "Even packed to the sunroof with our United Nations Culinary Peace Force (representatives from Brazil, the US, Japan, France, Costa Rica and the UK), we had no problem keeping up with the usual Death Race 2000 on the Périphérique (the Paris ring road) and were soon swinging through the gates of Moët et Chandon for a tour of their caves." A fun read. And Paris is, well... Paris.