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Harriet Welty Rochefort in conversation
with Paris Through Expatriate Eyes (PTEE) director Terrance Gelenter
(from http://paris-expat.com/interviews/ Sept.2004)
Just like Hemingway, Fitzgerald and Lewis,
expatriates during Les Années Folles, Harriet Welty Rochefort,
author of "French Toast" and "French Fried"
comes from a small town in the Midwest-Shenandoah, IA. Unlike
them she stayed.
I usually try to link my interviews to an
upcoming book or film but after lunching with Harriet whose most
recent book, "French Fried" was published in 2001,
I felt a responsibility to acquaint you with this charming woman
even though no new book is on the horizon.
I hopped onto the #3 Metro line at L'ODEON
and exited at GAMBETTA in the heart of the 20th arrondissement.
As I emerged onto the Place Gambetta I made an erroneous right
turn and found myself in the midst of 1950's Brooklyn- a collection
of small clothing shops, butchers, fishmongers, fruit vendors-
only instead of Yiddish, Italian, Spanish and English I heard
French and Arabic.
A quick about face and a short walk brought
me to Harriet's mini-rise "fifties" apartment building-an
effort at postwar city planning. After a relaxing orange juice
in the garden we walked to the corner for our conversation and
a classic lunch at La Fontaine, a neighborhood bistro.
TG: When
did you first come to Paris?
HWR: I first
came to Paris in 1967 with a college roommate when I was at the
University of Michigan. It was just a summer vacation and I fell
in love with it.
TG: Why did
you choose Paris?
HWR: We wanted
to do all the classic things-Italy, France. We flew to Paris
and found a little place in the Quartier Latin and it was just
wonderful. I felt like I had stepped into a Toulouse-Lautrec
painting. And the other thing was that my step-grandmother, Blanche
Shweitzer, had taught French at Grinnell College (Iowa) and had
lived in France. She taught me words in French. My little pink
toy pig was a "cochon"; a fork was a "fourchette."
.
TG: Apart
from the romantic sense of being in Paris, were there one or
two things that impressed you and have stayed with you?
HWR: Oh yes,
I think so but can I backtrack here for a moment? There was one
other influence on me; a French war bride who lived in our town
(Shenandoah, Iowa.) Micheline brought over her parents from Le
Havre because they had nothing left-the town had been destroyed.
So there they are in the middle of nowhere in Shenandoah, Iowa
of all places and they started a restaurant. I was just a little
girl and I'd go to the restaurant with my family and it was a
totally different ambiance. It was like in France-red-checkered
tablecloths, beautiful antiques from Normandy. It was a big influence
on me so I already had these ideas about France-very big, very
positive ideas.
I've been here for over thirty years and every
time I walk down the street I say to myself that I'm in such
an aesthetic environment, it's so beautiful And I still stop
in wonder as if it were the first time. So I think to answer
your question it's the beauty and the French attention to aesthetics
that we don't see in our society because we Americans are much
more geared to productivity and work.
TG: We don't
take the time to appreciate it.
HWR: That's
the other thing. Just taking the time to appreciate life. I was
on a cruise recently with my college roommate-the same one I
came to Paris with and everyone wanted to know what it was like
to live in Paris. I described a typical day and they were floored.
"How can you spend so much time doing the shopping? Isn't
it a waste of time? And I said no. It's an investment of time!
It's wonderful to live where you shop and talk to shopkeepers.
TG: When
did you realize that you had to live here, and when did you come
back to stay?
HWR: After
my first trip I came back for my senior year at Michigan and
I realized that the only think I wanted to do was go back to
France. Everyone was graduating or becoming a teacher or getting
married which was the thing to do in those days. I told my friends
that I had a one-way ticket to France and that's it! I flew to
France and found a place to stay in a pension de famille with
only French kids so I had to speak French.
In those days it was easy to find work
so I found a job at Westinghouse Broadcasting with Bernard Redmont
who became the dean at Boston University. I was his "girl
Friday" as they said in those days but I learned a lot about
journalism and later went back to graduate school at McGill at
Northwestern. And everyone asked what I was going to do now that
I'd grown up and I said I'm going back to France one last time
and then I'll get serious and settle down.
This time I caught a freighter in California
for 3 weeks stopping in Acapulco, Vera Cruz, Colombia, the Canary
Islands, Morocco and eventually got a train to Paris and it was
too noisy, too loud and I decided to go to Argentina but I met
Philippe (my husband) and never got to Argentina.
TG: How did
that happen?
HWR: Through
a mutual friend-actually an old boyfriend. I went to Le Select
in Montparnasse and I saw this sad, hostile looking guy but we
started talking and he killed me, he was so funny with his deadpan
expression. So I stayed another week, another month, I stayed
in Paris and ended up marrying the guy.
TG: Since
you're living in the 20th, is this your favorite arrondissement?
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HWR: I've
lived all over Paris. I've lived in the 5th, 7th, 15th, 16th
and Neuilly. My favorite used to be the 5th and I think it still
is because some areas have lost their Paris flavor. The 6th is
now one big clothes store with designers like Armani and the
20th remains Parisian.
TG: Do you
have a favorite café?
HWR: I have
several. One that I like to go to with girlfriends is the Café
Marly. I love to look out on the Louvre and the pyramid. I'm
a big café person so I usually go to about four a day.
First, if I'm doing my shopping on the rue des Pyrenées
at eleven I'll have a fast little black coffee at the bar here
at La Fontaine. I know the barman so we'll talk and then I'll
go home for lunch. After lunch I come out again and have another
coffee at another place on the other side of the Place (Gambetta),
Le Bar du Metro. And sometimes at around five I'll take my newspaper
and go to one that's quieter near Père Lachaise. So each
café has a different flavor and a different time.
TG: These
are mostly local. Do you have a well-known place that you use
as a rendezvous before going off to lunch or dinner?
HWR: I move
around so much that I just keep finding new places and if I like
it I'll go back. For example when I go the Parc des Butte-Chaumont
I'll go to a café whose name I don't remember (I have
hundreds.)
TG: Is there
just a little neighborhood place where you might go for an inexpensive
steak-frites
HWR: We eat
so much French food and my mother-in-law and sister-in-law are
great cooks that with the exception of the great three-stars
like Ducasse, we go to Chinese, Thai, Senegalese, and I love
an Ethiopian restaurant in the 13th.
TG: What
is your house wine?
HWR: Last
night we kicked back with a Bourgogne aligoté. We also
like Graves rouge and the better beaujolais. And I love champagne!
I wrote in "French Fried" about a tasting I did with
a great sommelier who opened my eyes to champagne.
TG: Do you
have a favorite park or garden?
HWR: When
I lived in Neuilly I went to the Bois du Bologne every single
day. I adored it. That's the only thing I miss here. But I'm
not too far from the Butte Chaumont and the Bois de Vincennes.
I like big parks.
TG: What is
your favorite time of year?
HWR: Definitely
spring because everything comes alive after the horribly depressing
winter that drives me out of my mind. And all of sudden April
comes and there's sun and flowers and everyone comes to life.
It's the rebirth of Paris.
TG: Do you
have a favorite market in Paris?
HWR: When
I lived in Neuilly, I liked the Marché des Sablons. The
food is very good and very expensive, but I used to buy my shoes
and sweaters there. Now that I live here, I don't go to markets
that much. The rue des Pyrenées has great little shops
and a fantastic poissonnerie. I find everything I need here.
TG: How do
you stay connected to America?
HWR: I subscribe
to the Tribune, but I think that it's too bad that the Trib is
now only the New York Times because when it was the Times and
the Washington Post it was a wonderful paper. I also have many
American friends.
TG: Do you
go back to America regularly?
HWR: I go
back once or twice a year to see family.
TG: How do
you celebrate Thanksgiving?
HWR: It's
my favorite American holiday. I get a big turkey. In the beginning
it was hard to convince the butcher that I didn't want a butterball-they
are starting to sell the Americans (blah!) I wanted a French
turkey. I simply roast it and serve it with all the usual trimmings.
I invite a bunch of people and each, person brings a dish and
I do the turkey.
TG: Do you
have problems getting cranberries and other classic American
products?
HWR: Yes,
in the beginning. My mom would send me care packages. But now
I can get frozen cranberries in supermarkets.
TG: How has
Paris affected your work?
HWR: I don't
know if you know, but I was a journalist before. I was a freelancer
and wrote features for The Herald Tribune. And for ten years
I was practically a full-time "stringer" for Time Magazine.
My beat was France. I wrote about culture, society and most frequently
about business. I also began to write features for European Travel
& Life, and that was the start of my first book, "French
Toast."
It affected my work in the sense that I
realized that the story of my life in France was a possible book.
I didn't sit down and plan to write a best seller. I had a bunch
of problems with France, and I thought the process would be cathartic.
I felt that everything in America was better. I wanted my kids
to be educated in America-I was sick and tired of France. But
through the book, I just relaxed and learned to accept France
as she is, and I've not had any problems since. So I've learned
that I can prosper here, and I love it and feel lucky to be here.
TG: Finally,
how has Paris affected your life?
HWR: I think
Paris has given me a lot of richness. I'm someone who is easily
bored and I'm never bored in Paris. It's the only place to be
I shut my recorder off, and we settled back
in our chairs for an espresso and I had to quickly turn it back
on as Harriet described how she learned so much about cheese
during the writing of "French Fried" that she felt
compelled to share her knowledgewhich she does at intimate
wine & cheese tastings at her Paris apartment.
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