- French Fried: The Culinary Capers
of an American in Paris is a humorous
food memoir based on the author's true experiences with her French
family and her investigation into the world of French cuisine
based on interviews and tastings with some of French foremost
sommeliers, bread and cheese makers. It is, in sum, the story
of one American woman's foray into the fascinating, complex and
often byzantine world of French cuisine.
- And when it comes to cuisine, Harriet Welty
Rochefort's experiences are anything but dull or traditional.
When she first arrives in France, she dines on onion soup with
her concierge. When she finally gets a decent apartment with
a kitchen (in which she doesn't cook), it turns out that there's
both a shower - and a cop in it.
- But after marrying Frenchman Philippe, the
jig is up. Cooking, she realizes, will now be part of her life
whether she likes it or not. Digging in her heels, she graduates
from opening cans of peas to casually knocking out two major
three-course meals a day (about 21,000 meals, her French husband
calculates) in no time at all. Not only that, but she prepares
and eats rabbits, tripe, and blood sausage with gusto.
- In her hilarious but informative book, Harriet,
whose style has been described as a cross between Erma Bombeck
and the late food writer M.F.K. Fisher, manages to give us a
picture of how different life, and eating, in France really is.
- French Fried is now available in all major
bookstores in the U.S. and on amazon.com.
It is also available at W.H. Smiths, Brentano's and Gagliagni's
in Paris and Reelbooks in Fontainebleau.
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Endorsements
- Alain Ducasse, the world-renowned
6-star French chef : "In a lively and hilarious style, French
Fried gives an inside look at the world of French cuisine
and wine. It reminds us that beyond cultural differences, it
is important to keep an open mind when it comes to food."
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- Charlie Trotter, the illustrious Chicago
chef : "French Fried is as delightful, witty and
charming as its author Harriet Welty Rochefort. Her unique perspective
on the world of French food and wine blends insights gleaned
from both the home front and restaurant professionals. An American
married to a Frenchman, Harriet demystifies the often-cryptic
ways of her adopted cuisine and culture."
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Table of Contents
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Chapter 1. The Beginnings Shenandoah, Iowa - The "French connection"
- A defining moment - The pension de famille - The concierge
with the onion soup - Cops in the closet
Chapter 2. A Cultural Clash in the Kitchen The plastic sandwich - Learning to cook with la cocotte
minute - Potluck and leftovers à la française
- Sauces and seasons and strange things to eat - Bring out the
tofu - A very special American in Paris
Chapter 3. The Dire First Meal at Home Reading recipes - Thinking in French - Famous authors
and French food - Some help from Robuchon (on TV) - Going to
cooking school and banishing food phobias
Chapter 4. Foraging for Food Meandering
through markets - La Mouffe and other markets - A stroll through
a French hypermarket - Designer delicacies - The chocolate counter
- The growing yoghurt
Chapter 5. A la campagne
La maison de campagne - The Fête de St. Lô
- An American connection - Good times and good food - A family
tradition - A typical Sunday lunch in the country - Making mirabelle
alcohol - Some dental work at lunch
Chapter 6. A la ville Give
us this day, our daily meals - Twice a day - And in courses,
please.
Chapter 7. Body Parts The
French eat everything in the animal - A butcher store and a rabbit
head - A horsemeat surprise - Making blood sausage - Brains in
the microwave - Le porc
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Chapter 8. Le pain, le vin et le fromage
Long comme un jour sans pain
- Harriet gets some
help on wine - Champagne tasting at the Ritz - A conversation
with Georges Lepré - A Brie in the States - Cheese meals
and cheese cravings - Meeting a fromager
Chapter 9. Sweets Le
pain d'épices
- A course at Lenôtre - Les artistes du chocolat -
Real chocolate versus candy
Chapter 10. Get Thee To a Spa Thalassotherapie
- Get me out of here - Try, try again - Saint-Jean-de-Luz - Weighing
in - Flavor sans fat; or, eating light, eating well -
My kingdom for a cook
Chapter 11. The Parisian Waiter Some good views of waiters...and some not so good
- A cultural misunderstanding - My days as a waitress - A ballet
- Coke in a carafe - What waiters find funny or frustrating
Chapter 12. Restaurants and Restaurant Manners Bistros, brasseries and restaurants - Be your own
restaurant critic - The serendipity factor - Memorable meals,
both good and bad - Cafés - Screw-you smoking - Splitting
the bill and other nit-picking matters - Dogs and children in
restaurants - Some other cultural differences - How to eat eyes,
slice cheese, and send back wine
Chapter 13. Big Mac Le
Big Mac - French fast food and street food - Incorporating food
from elsewhere - The end of taste buds? - The low-fat trend -
The French paradox - Antiglobalization
Chapter 14. Typically French - Slow Food in the Provinces
Kings and presidents - Slow food
in the provinces - French favorites and the plat unique - A little
tour of eating in France - The pleasure of food
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Mini-interview
with the author
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Why did you write French
Fried?
After writing French Toast, I saw that
I hadn't had enough space to talk about the French and their
food. In addition, as with French Toast, I was afraid that I
had gone so native that I might forget just what some of my early
food experiences were. But as I wrote the book I saw that it
will take me another thirty years to attain the perfection of
a French hostess!
In your book you seem to be
eating a lot? What was the experience you most enjoyed?
There were several and it's really hard
to choose. And I wasn't eating a lot - I was tasting a lot. Différence!
I loved sitting down with chocolate maestro Robert Linxe at the
Maison du Chocolat and taking tiny tastes of twelve of his fantastic
chocolates. I loved going down into the depths of the cheese
caves with Philippe Alléosse and I loved my elegant and
informative champagne tasting at the Ritz with top sommelier
Gérard Margeon who is the very antithesis of the popular
image of the French wine steward - haughty and condescending.
Margeon is a one-man encyclopaedia who loves sharing his knowledge
- and I was the grateful beneficiary.
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Why do you think the
French have such an attachment to food?
First of all, they have a long food tradition
and still today refer to the great gastronomists Brillat-Savarin
and Curnonsky. Second, they have a bounteous land that produces
an extraordinary variety of every kind of food. (You only have
to look at the cuts of meat and the incredible varieties of cheese
- almost 400 - to find evidence of that). Third, they know what
to DO with that food, whether it's a long simmering dish at home
or a sophisticated meal in a 3 star restaurant. Above all, food
in France represents conviviality. There's nothing the French
love to do more than gather around the table with friends and
family. In fact, even though times are changing and there is
more and more fast food, getting together around the table is
still top priority. The evening meal with the family is not dead
in this country with an estimated 90 per cent of the country
sitting down together to eat.
But aren't things changing?
Aren't the French on the run these days?
Yes, it's true that things are changing
- at least superficially. You do see people eating sandwiches
as they walk down the streets of big cities (but go out into
small villages and you'll see that at lunchtime the streets are
deserted). According to several studies I've seen, 75 per cent
of the French still sit down to lunch at noon - and as I mentioned
90 per cent of the French still sit down to an evening meal.
And - huge difference - the French may have adopted Starbucks
and McDonalds but they don't have doggie bags or drink holders
in their cars!
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Small bites - an excerpt from "The
Parisian Waiter"
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What waiters find funny or strange or frustrating
Clients may think waiters are everything from
"nice," "helpful," "friendly",
to "rude", "brusque", and "arrogant,"
but waiters have their opinions of clients as well. When they've
been around as long as fifty-two-year-old Jean Demol, a waiter
at the Brasserie Balzar for the last twenty years, they've seen
just about everything. As Brasserie Balzar is in the Latin Quarter,
Demol has seen plenty of American tourists drinking Coke with
French food. Demol is no longer shocked. He calls Coke "the
American Beaujolais." Still, he does find it, "très
bizarre" that the diners in question will down three or
four Cokes and then ask for artificial sugar with their coffee!
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A tip on tipping
The question most tourists ask is: to tip
the waiter or not to tip? The answer to this is that unlike in
the U.S. where the service is not included in the bill, in France
a 15 percent service charge is almost always included ion the
bill you pay. This 15 percent is then distributed among the various
personnel. The tip, however, is not included and is entirely
up to the client. If the service is good but nothing special,
you don't leave anything. If you are especially pleased with
the service and wish to leave a tip, you can....No matter what
you leave, remember that it's worse to leave a measly tip...than
no tip at all.
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A Recipe from "The Dire First
Meal at Home"
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Françoise's Clafoutis aux cerises
3 eggs
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of butter
3/4 cup of flour
A tablespoon of rum
1/2 pint of milk
1 pound of cherries, the darker the better
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Break the eggs in a bowl and add the
sugar.
Mix with the softened butter.
Add the flour. Mix well. Add rum and
milk.
Set this mixture aside for a half
hour.
During this time take off the stems
and wash and wipe the cherries (but leave in the pits!).
Heat the oven to 450°F.
Butter an 8-by-12-inch baking dish
and line it with the cherries.
Pour your batter right over the cherries.
Put in the oven 30 to 35 minutes or
till it is golden.
Test with a knife to see if it is
cooked through.
Take it out and let it cool. When
it has cooled, dust the surface with powdered sugar and serve
it at room temperature. Serves 8.
A food note: Purists say that only
cherries with their pit wil do. Others say the pit poses too
many probblems. It seems to be a matter of taste - and practicality.
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What
Readers Say about French Fried...
- Colette C. writes : I've just finished
reading, very reluctantly, your book "French Fried".
I finished it reluctantly because I didn't want it to end! It
is a gem, a treat, un regal! I'm the product of a French mother
and an American father. My mother came to the U. S. in her early
20's, met and married my American father, and remained in the
States. My sister and I were raised in Los Angeles, bilingual
from birth, and my mother's French influence was very evident
in our household and in our upbringing. We ate things like cervelle
and rognons (even served cervelle to one of my sister's friends
who came over for lunch once... and only once). We traveled extensively
throughout France, Europe and many other places while we were
growing up. I'm anxiously awaiting my copy of "French Toast"I
may have to discipline myself to read only one page per day,
to prolong the pleasure and make it last longer this time. Please
keep writing, Harriet - you fill a void for those of us who yearn
for all things French!
- L.T. writes : Your latest book was so
delightful! I read it all in 3 sittings: apero/main course/dessert!
As an American married to a French man,I can attest you've put
your finger on that angle and having lived in France since 1980,
we've had quite similar experiences! I'm not any kind of food
guru, chef or specialist - but your insights were right on the
mark for me! Congratulations on a truly wonderful book.
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- A review on Amazon.com by a reader from Denver, CO USA :
Rochefort's follow-up to "French Toast"
focuses on the culinary differences between America and France,
which have led to huge differences in culture, lifestyle, and
waistlines. With a breezy style and self-deprecating wit, she
demystifies what the French cook, how they cook it, how they
eat it, and how it enhances the pleasures of life. Surely one
of the pleasures in life is relaxing with this book and a nice
glass of red wine. It's been an interesting experience to read
this book (a celebration of good food, good wine, and a high
quality of life) alongside Eric Schlosser's "Fast Food Nation"
(a wonderfully written and thoroughly depressing exploration
of the rise of fast food in the U.S. during the latter half of
the 20th century and its impact on our culture). Rochefort, too,
warns of the encroachment of McDonalds and other American fast-food
enterprises on the French culinary landscape; she notes that
she hopes her observations of French cuisine will not serve as
a memorial of such an inherent part of French culture. Reading
these two books side-by-side guarantees that you will never eat
fast food again. And to make certain of that, Rochefort includes
several tried-and-true French recipes. The ones I've tried have
been simple and delicious!
- More letters...
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Press reviews about French Fried...
- In French Review 76.1 - 2002,
Alice J.Strange writes : French Fried is admitedly unscientific
and impressionistic, consisting primarily of personal anecdotes
and observations told in an engaging conversational style. Written
for an American audience, it breaks little new ground and is
aimed primarily at the general reader who has limited personal
acquaintance wth French food habits. Nonetheless, French Fried
is also a pleasant diversion for readers well acquainted with
France, who will enjoy comparing the authors's experiences with
their own. For all readers, French Fried provides a lighthearted
yet perceptive view of the role of cuisine in French life.
- From American Way (inflight magazine
of American Airlines, March 15, 2001) : You may be able to
find Le Big Mac far too easily in Paris today, but the culinary
chasm between the U.S. and France still runs deep. The author,
an American who has lived in France for 30 years, describes the
food scene there in hilarious detail, from dogs (the real, live
four-legged ones) in every restaurant to rather hard-to-swallow
French delicacies. Boar's head, anyone ?
- From Georgina Oliver, The Paris Voice (April 2001)
: Married to a Frenchman, American author
Harriet Welty Rochefort is flavor of the month with "French
Fried," a literary wink at the culinary discrepancies between
Gallic gastronomy and stateside munching.
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- "Seeking and savoring good food in
the convivial Brooklyn of Paris" is
the title of an article on a day with Harriet in Paris written
by Seattle
Times Travel Writer Carol Pucci and syndicated by
Knight Ridder.
- From Booklist : Harriet Welty Rochefort
grew up in Iowa, but she has lived in France for the last thirty
years. In French Fried, her second volume recounting the vicissitudes
of daily life among the French, she brings her well-developed
sense of humor to bear on topics such as the French waiter in
all his professional hauteur, the Gallic passion for organ meats,
and the new culture of the hypermarket. This single-destination
source for everything from fine foods to stereos to running shoes
has transformed the way many French do their customary daily
shopping. Rochefort's recounting of wine-tastings with Alain
Ducasse's sommelier puts good wine service in sound perspective.
- Click for a review with photos and illustrations
in the Paris Pages.
- More reviews...
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Website recommendations
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Harriet's books are recommended by
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- and Boomer Café
says : Our parents saw France as a nation
that resented Amerians. We baby boomers see it a little differently.
Say its name to any of us and we think of romance, and food,
and charm, and food, and wine, and Well, you get the point. But
the beauty of French food is not all in its crafted taste, or
even in its exquisite presentation. Part of the beauty is in
buying it, at the colorful and aromatic outdoor street markets
that sprout up every morning throughout the country. Harriet
Welty Rochefort, author of " French Toast, " is an
American who lives in Paris and has long loved those markets.
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U.S. and France Press Contacts:
- U.S.A. : Publicity
Department, St. Martin's Press, 175 5th Avenue, New York, New
York 10010-7848, Tel. 212 647 5151. Fax 212 254 4553.
- France : Sarah
COLTON 33-(0)1 43 06 50 90 email : SColton50@aol.com
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Speaking Engagements/ Upcoming Events
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Past speaking engagements and book signings
and sales...
- Now on Harriet's site www.frenchfolio.com
- Evenings With an Author, American Library in Paris, January 17, 2006.
- Missouri Southern State University (Joplin, MO) : October 3 to 5 - Harriet and husband
Philippe will give six speeches to the students and to the business
community during the "French Semester"
- Saint Germain en Laye International High
School - Sept. 11, 2006
- Lycée International, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, September 9, 2005
- "Intercultural Differences"(with
Pascal Baudry), French-American Foundation, Paris Sept.14,
2005
- Booksigning in Chartres "Librairie
Jean Leguet" Sept.16, 2005
- "Food as a Metaphor for French Culture",
International Media Seminar, Northwestern University students
at the American University of Paris, May 18, 2005
- March 21, 2005 - International
Media Seminar - Northwesterne
University at the American University of Paris
- Tuesday, October 5, 2005
-- AAWE Annual Open
House for AAWE newcomers. Talk on Franco-American cultural differences.
- Monday, September 27,
2004 -- "How
the French and Americans think we're alike - but we're not"
at the Lycée International in Saint Germain en Laye.
- Paris, December 6, 7,
8 2003- Sale
of French Fried at AAWE Christmas Bazaar, Forum de Grenelle
- Paris, December 8, 2003 - Sale of French Toast and French
Fried at the American School of Paris Holiday Bazaar
- Paris, October 11, 2003: American Women's Group of Brussels
- Paris Sept. 16, 2002 : Northwestern University students
- Paris, Jun 6, 2002,
Signature des auteurs Neuilléens
- Paris, May 14, 2002
: speech AAWE at Mona Bismarck Foundation
- Paris April 26 & 30, May 28, 2002, Travel Writer's Workshop at Paris Travel Writer's
- Paris, June 28, 2001: booksigning U.S. Embassy
- Paris, May 30, 2001:
Evenings with an Author at the American Library
- Paris, April 28, 2001 : Booksigning at Brentano's
- Paris, April 18, 2001: reading-booksigning to The Association for Americans
Resident Overseas
- Fontainebleau, March 30, 2001: Booksigning with Reelbooks
- Paris, March 28, 2001 : Talk and booksigning at WICE (Women's Institute
for Continuing Education)
- Paris, March 13, 2001, Luncheon Speaker, International Media Seminar for
students from Missouri Southern University at the American
University of Paris.
- Chicago, March 9, 2001, talk at the Samaritan Institute Benefit in Chicago
with co-speaker renowned Chef Charlie Trotter, on "Culture,
Creativity and Cuisine"
- Paris, February 27, 2001: Booksigning-talk at W.H. Smith
- Paris, January 25, 2001: Lecture on the French Family and French Women to a
study abroad group from The American Institute for Foreign
Study
- Fontainebleau, December 9, 2000, booksigning-talk at the first Anglo-Saxon Book
Fair, sponsored by Reelbooks
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- Paris, December 2, 2000, talk-booksigning, the Association of British
Women in Dentistry.
- Madison, Wisc., September 8, 2000, speaker at a conference on Taste, Technology and
Terroir at the University of Wisconsin in Madison along
with French sheepfarmer and political activist José Bové
and renowned Chicago chef Charlie Trotter.
- Shenandoah, Iowa,
September 2, speaker at the First Shenandoah Writer's
Program
- Joplin, MO, August 28, 2000, lecture at the Institute of International Studies
at Missouri Southern College in Joplin
- To current events
- etc...
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If you liked "French Women Don't Get Fat",
you'll love French Fried, Harriet Welty
Rochefort's tale of how she learned the French secret for staying
slim while enjoying the thinking about, shopping for, preparation
of, and savoring of sitdown meals. In her first months in France,
Harriet thought the first course WAS the meal and ate accordingly.
But she soon learned that the French serve meals in courses -
and eat tiny amounts. She also learned that the French linger
over meals - making for more and better conversation and better
digestion. Most of all, she learned that food in France is infinitely
varied, that it's important to use only the best products, and
that a good French meal is all about conviviality.
For more on the French and their healthy,
sane attitude toward food, read "French Fried" which
the only nine-star chef of France, Alain Ducasse, called a "lively,
hilarious, and insightful" book.
...Write
to Harriet Welty Rochefort and visit her WebSite on food and
intercultural differences understandfrance...
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this site is still under
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email me: harriet.welty AT club-internet.fr |
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