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Warning !
All this, and much more, is now on my NEW SITE at
www.frenchfolio.com
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More letters and more reviews |
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French Toast
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French Fried
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More letters about French Toast...
- B. M. (Reims) : "..I absolutely loved
the book...I think it's a good thing to know how different we
can be from other cultures. It enables you to sometimes rethink
your behavior or simply to understand why you get this particular
reaction from American persons, even from other nationalities
in fact....
- A. O., Seattle WA : Kudos on your books.
Both are trenchant, brilliant and good fun. Yes, I have always,
like you, adored the French and have felt a though we Yankscan
only but learn from them and their ways. I have always loved
to visit Europe and have admired the euro-reserve and well-manneredness.
- M.S. : Quel honneur! I just finished reading
"French Toast," and I located your e-mail address as
quickly as I could to thank you for writing such a delightful book! J'étudie le français
depuis trois ans, and since then, France, its language,
and its culture have become for me a veritable passion! And,
in my going on three years of studies, I've not yet read
such a comprehensive or amusing overview of the culture. Bravo!
Thank you for your book, and thank you for taking the time to
read this! Keep up the good work. :)
- B.Y. : I have just finished reading "French
Toast" and wanted to write you a small fan letter, as the
mother of a young woman who was married for six years to a Strasbourgeois
(and who is still living in France). I enjoyed reading the book
very much, but even more was impressed by the underlying seriousness
of your message--that French/American cultural differences are
deeper than one imagines at first and more
consequential. I was very happy to have found it!
- L.T. :I want to tell you how much I enjoyed
French Toast which I picked up at the Princeton public library
last week. My husband will read it next....Now that I've read
your book,I've learned that "n'est pas mal" is high
praise! I really thought it simply meant, "not bad."
And I must also say that I lived in Japan for a time, and noted
many character similarities between the French and the Japanese.
So it was intriguing to learn in French Toast that it's the Japanese
who seem to struggle most with the French! Also I realized, as
a Clevelander now in Princeton, NJ for 18 months, the Midwest-to-East-Coast
and/or Midwest-to-big-city culture shock is huge, even before
adding a foreign country. I'm realizing that my time here, just
50 miles from NYC and of course, heavily influenced by the ways
of New Yorkers, is preparing me to handle a week in Paris! Disdain,
poor customer service, horrible & discourteous drivers, and
a generally elitist attitude are all things I'm used to by now!
I've even managed to quit being nice or smile in public. Sorry this is long, I thank you again for your
book & well-designed website, which I shall mention to many...Wishing
you well,
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- Michelle L. : "Bonjour, je suis québécoise
et j'irai bientôt à Paris pour 6 mois, merci pour
votre livre qui est à la fois drôle et angoissant,(
comme je ne suis pas habituée de faire engueuler ça
m'inquiète un peu, mais bon). Il y a quelques trucs très
utiles comme par exemple quand un français dit non ça
ne veut pas dire non etc. bravo,"
- T. N., Anaheim,
Ca. : I have read and re-read your great book "French Toast".
I LOVE IT!! I can't wait for your new book to be ready!! Thank
you for being there for all us Francophiles.
- Jerry : I just finished French Toast and
it is such a brilliant book!!!You have all the nuances of the
Parisians down pat!!It is so strange that people who live in
a city such as Paris(I personally think Rome is more romantic and the Romans tend to be more
romantic) are so grumpy!!! In truth,not all of the Parisians
I have met have been like the sort described in your book.The
French,generally the southerners, are very warm people
outside of Paris.That's my humble opinion anyway!!! Harriet ,I
can't wait for your next book to come out.I'll be the first in
line to buy your new tome about your new compatriots!!!You also
have the best article in the Paris Pages, by the way.
Good luck on your next one.Tell your husband that Chirac is a
pretty good looking guy,so tell him to calm down.
- S.V. : I just finished reading your book,
FRENCH TOAST. Thank you! I laughed out loud several times realizing
that I am not crazy and my husband is not some malicious monster
trying to drive me out of my mind! I have been here for 4 years
having moved here from Los Angeles to be with my French husband
but it seems just like yesterday in terms of understanding this
culture. Again, thank you for your
wonderful book and I look forward to reading more of your "Letters
from Paris."
- J D : A friend of mine recently gave me
a copy of your book, French Toast, to read and I just wanted
to communicate to you how much I appreciate what you have expressed.
Your book is comforting, humorous, and enlightening.Your observances
of cultural differences are so clearly and matter-of-factly expressed
that I am now able to put into words what I had before been feeling
and attempting to express. In addition, my family, who knows
extremely little about the French culture and does not always
understand my interest and passion in it nor why I am interested
in a French man when there are plenty of American men at my disposition,
will now be able to have another person's perspective on a similar
situation. Thank you again for
such a genuine and personal resource.
- K B : I just finished reading French Toast.
It's absolutely terrific. You should have been a standupcomic.
You would have made a fortune. Everything in this book is so
TRUE. You did the job of both a sociologist and a humorist. I
am already looking forward to reading your next book.
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More press about French Toast...
- Catherine Danielou (University of Alabama) in
the French Review:
"Le regard que Rochefort
porte sur la culture française est lucide, détaché,
formé à partir d'observations très personnelles.
Il met en valeur la complexité du caractère français
et la difficulté de cerner la culture française,
ainsi que de la comprendre pour un étranger....Avisée,
connaissant très bien la culture dans laquelle elle évolue,
Rochefort est d'une grande lucidité, consciente des limites
posées par un regard personnel sur une culture en mouvement,
un pays composite et complexe comme la France. Précis,
pertinent, concis, cohérent, drôle et personnel,
French Toast est un oufrage simple qu'il faut lire. Tous les
enseignants de français aux Etats-Unis, tous ceux s'inéressant
à la communications interculturelle, tous les expatriés
(Français aux Etats-Unis et Américains en France)
et tous nos étiudiants liront French Toast avec passion,
d'un trait, le sourire aux lèvres, et regretteront qu'il
ne soit pas plus long."
- Angenette Meany in The Omaha Sunday World-Herald:
"How you gonna keep 'em down on the farm
as liron French Toast avec passion, d'un trait, le sourire aux
lèvres, et regretteront qu'il ne soit pas plus long.fter
they've seen Paree?" Just ask Harriet Welty Rochefort. This
Shenandoah, Iowa native, who has spent the last 20 years in Paris,
will tell you that, in her case, you can't. Rochefort's light
yet astute tone combined with her sense of humor, candor and
fairness, make French Toast required reading for anyone
who has ever inhabited, visited or contemplated the land of Marcel
Proust, Charles De Gaulle and Brigitte Bardot. Above all, this
book is a love story of one woman's passion for the maddening,
mysterious, marvelous French. She may live in the French capital,
but Rochefort came from the American farmland, and by combining
the best attributes of both, she does more to bridge the French-American
cultural divide than any diplomat."
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- Chicago Reader: "In Harriet Welty
Rochefort's France, teachers berate medicore students in front
of their classmates, people who smile at strangers are assumed
to be imbeciles, and sex is an appropriate topic for dinner conversation
(though money is not)...(it's) also a place where doctors make
house calls, university tuition is free, and it's still okay
to light up in a restaurant...Her informal, first-person account...offer(s)
practical advice, like how to cut various types of French cheese,
when it is appropriate to send flowers, and how to formulate
insults and compliments that are très effective."
- Ursula Freireich in The
International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors Journal: "If I were younger I might consider moving to France
after having spent a week there as a participant in the International
Media Seminar sponsored by the Center for the Study of International
Communications. This thought came to me after a talk about cultural
differences by journalist Harriet Welty Rochefort...The main
reason I would enjoy living in France is that the speaker told
us that in her adopted homeland (she is originally from Iowa)
people think of food as a pleasure and, I think, if she would
write, it would be spelled in caps. The French savor every morsel
of their meals, and eating a lengthy dinner in a restaurant is
a drawn-out affair."
- Jane Burns in The
Des Moines Register:
"There is a certain je ne sais quoi about
being both an Iowan and a Parisian, and Harriet Welty Rochefort
takes it all in stride. Her views on France are different from
many other Americans living there. As the American half of a
marriage, with the in-laws and many dinner guests being French,
her observations have developed a little differently. They aren't
intended to be fodder for a travel guide, but may come in handy
when perplexed tourists try to understand their surroundings."
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More letters about French Fried...
- Christine G., Burbank, CA writes : I recently
bought your two books, and wanted to let you know how much I
am enjoying them. I finished "French Toast", and am
currently in the middle of "French Fried", which I
find thoroughly entertaining. You have a charming style of writing,
reminiscent of a book I read in my teens, "Clementine In
The Kitchen", written by Phineas Beck. It was published
in 1943, "in cooperation with Gourmet magazine", and
was a gift to me in the 60s from a Francophile friend of my mother's.
I was a teenager in Tucson Arizona, and this book was a window
to the wide world that existed beyond my small cityIt's a luscious
read, as is your book. I heartily recommend it to you. Thank
you for your books (which are inspiring me to consider cooking
again!), and for your website, which I am currently exploring.
- C.K. Skaneateles, New York writes :I can't
tell you how much I'm enjoying French Fried - I've been reading
it at night for the past week or so and chuckle my way to sleep.
You've really gotten to the bottom of the debate about what's
truly French or American; actually it's not only French, but
in many ways European vs. American. Ever since Julia Child came
on the scene in the 60's the American palate has become more
sophisticated, certainly, and I'm truly grateful for the improvements.
However, what really hasn't changed is the attitude Americans
have towards food. Your example of your guest who wanted "protein"
for breakfast is a wonderful case in point. I howled at that
example, and especially at Philippe's response. Unfortunately
I don't think Americans will ever learn to appreciate food the
way the French do. Two things will prevent it, and they are attitude
and mass production. Last night I got to the chapter on chocolate.
I loved your distinction between chocolate and candy! Yes, that
is one thing I really miss here - good chocolate, but mass production
won't allow it to be made. And the cheese. Oh dear how I miss
good cheese! Sometimes I shop in a fantastic supermarket in Syracuse
that has just about every food known to man - including some
of my favorite cheeses like Fourme d'Ambert, St. Felicien, crottins,
St. Agur, Tomme de Savoie, etc. Really impressive. But, alas,
I finally decided to stop buying them because they're totally
DEAD! Maybe kept too cold or too dry - I don't know what went
wrong. The only ones you can still enjoy are the hard cheeses
like the Comtes or Gruyeres. At least in NY I can find fairly
decent cheeses, so that's one stop I always make while down there
- to Zabars or such. So, you've really hit the nail on the head.
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- C.H. writes : This is a terrific book
regarding the eating mores of the French. I really enjoyed it
. I feel sorry having spent only 12 days in Paris and not having
sampled enough of French food. It is true that in the States
the food is almost primitive but it is changing especially in
California where we find almost everything that you have in France.
On the cheeses, alas, even the imports from France have no taste.
I paid 23 dollars for a Reblochon which tasted like plaster.
The same at Monoprix cost only 14 francs and is wonderfulAnyway,
thank you for your great book. What are you going to do for an
encore?
- A.L. writes : I'm almost finished reading
French Fried and have found it both delightful and informative!
Hats off to HWR.
- L.S. writes : I discovered your book,
French Fried and loved it so much that I immediately tracked
down French Toast. I am enjoying it immensely. I lived for five
short months in Paris, and have never quite gotten over it. I
still dream of living there permanently someday, or at least
going back again for more than a few days at a time.Anyway, thank
you for evoking everything I love about France so vividly.
- S.M. writes : The book is fabulous! I
just started reading last night, but Ioved the introductory part
about Shenandoah and eating Swiss steak at the Normandy Inn.
(I like to think I'm the friend you mentioned at the restaurant
in Paris.) The interviews with Philippe are especially delicious.
I started laughing, then read them to Paul who also found them
hilarious. What a team you are!
- B.R. writes :I have been reading French
Fried and really enjoying all the tales of your food affairs
with France...such a good combination of themes, food, France,
and humor!
- More to come...
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More press about French Fried...
- From Wendy Bethel, Library Journal
: Here are two culinary memoirs by American women now living
in France. The similarities end there, as one author went to
France for the food and stayed for the life that grew up around
her, while the other moved to France for its own sake and realized
that she'd better learn to cook once she became engaged to a
Frenchman. In On Rue Tatin, Loomis, a food writer and an accomplished
cook, recalls her initial journey to Paris to attend cooking
school. Her apprenticeship at La Varenne Ecole de Cuisine led
to a job as an assistant to food writer Patricia Wells and a
lifelong fascination with French cooking and culture. Eventually,
in 1994, she and her family permanently settled in a medieval
convent on Rue Tatin in the Norman town of Louviers. Interspersed
with her lyrical descriptions of daily life in urban and rural
France are 50 recipes from a simple frittata to a complex pot
au feu culled from both famous chefs and the local fish seller.
The author prepares most of the dishes in her own home, and American
readers should be able to do the same in a well-equipped kitchen
though they may have trouble finding a leg of wild boar at their
local supermarket. In French Fried, Rochefort (French Toast)
writes about how her obsession with French food became a personal
one when her French husband-to-be announced that they could not
afford to keep eating in restaurants for the rest of their lives.
There are a few recipes, most of them for "basics"
such as vinaigrette or homemade mayonnaise. More of a general
commentary on life in France as seen through its cuisine (one
helpful tip for tourists: don't go into a restaurant and order
only a salad or a sandwich because this is something you do in
a café ; restaurants are for meals), French Fried is the
book to purchase if your patrons are looking for an informal
travel guide. Buy both books if you are able; and if you regularly
answer reference questions about the cooking of wild boar, you'll
definitely need On Rue Tatin.
- Reviewed by Shannon McKenna, Bookreporter.com
(May 2001) : "Can anything prepare an American woman
for life in France and in particular the life of the wife of
a Frenchman who is used to eating the French way? My short answer
to that one is: no. The French way, I can assure you, is not
the American way. If you want to know what the difference is,
get a group of French and Americans together and stick them on
a desert island The main preoccupation of the French group will
be what they will eat and when. The American group won't think
about food other than as an afterthought." Harriet
Welty Rochefort did what most of us only dream about --- she
moved to Paris and has spent the last 30 years living in the
City of Light. In her first book, FRENCH TOAST, she talked about
the pleasures and frustrations of adjusting to life the French
way. Now, in FRENCH FRIED, Harriet details her odyssey
from culinary novice to a competent cook turning out two three-course
meals every day. She tells us, "In those early days, I couldn't
quite fathom that most of the next two decades of my life would
be spent on that earthshaking but necessary question: What are
we going to eat?" As Harriet details her experiences, she
sheds light on what is perhaps the single greatest difference
between Americans and the French: the relationship each of our
cultures has with food --- differences that are as vast as the
ocean that separates the two countries. In a nutshell, the French
view food as a pleasure while Americans view it mostly as a necessity.
But, as she points out, even though the French view food as a
pleasure, "there are rules for the way you make food, but
also the way you serve food, and even the way you talk about
food." In other words, there is no counting calories, no
slapdash meals, no barbecues and no pumpkin pie. What
makes this book so interesting is not just learning about the
cultural differences in regard to food --- the French rarely
eat sandwiches, never issue casual dinner invitations, and 80%
still return home for lunch every day --- but the lengths Harriet
goes to illustrate her observations. She takes cooking classes,
calls on experts and even explores a dark, damp cave beneath
the city where hundreds of varieties of cheese are stored ---
the ideal place for mold to grow to make the cheese its tastiest.
Not being an enthusiastic participant when it comes to trying
new foods (this is something I'm working on!), I'm in awe of
culinary adventurers like Harriet. If there is one "lesson"
to be had from this book it is to keep an open mind when it comes
to food and to try something at least once. That said, Chapter
7 --- which is titled "Body Parts or: Is offal awful?"
--- is not for the faint of heart. She spares no details about
how blood sausage is made, why fresh rabbits are sold with their
heads on (during the war cats were substituted for rabbits, so
this way you know what you're buying), which parts of a pig's
ear to eat, and the various ways to cook a boar's head --- one
of which is civet de joue, a red wine stew using the blood.
Much more appetizing are her stories about meeting and discussing
chocolate with Robert Linxe, owner of the world-famous Maison
du Chocolat; drinking wine with Gerard Margeon, the chief wine
steward at six-star chef Alain Ducasse's Paris restaurants, with
whom she attends a private tasting at the Ritz; and cooking and
dining with the Rochefort family at their country home in the
village of Bréchamps. The lively, first person
narrative and breezy, conversational style make for easy reading.
Combined with Harriet's sense of humor, family recipes, and historical
facts on everything from the baguette to winemaking, you feel
as if you're talking to a friend. Her writing is very visual
and evokes a sense of place whether she's at the market, Le Cordon
Bleu cooking school, or her own kitchen. There are some
practical tips for those who may be planning a trip to France.
For example, don't expect to eat a typical American lunch in
a restaurant. For lighter fare such as a salad or an omelet,
go to a brasserie. But beware --- even in a brasserie you should
avoid tables with white tablecloths, which indicate that you
want a traditional French lunch. There is also advice on things
like tipping, sending back wine, and when to drink coffee (it's
served as a separate course after dessert). For anyone
with an interest in French culture, who loves food, or who simply
enjoys good storytelling, FRENCH FRIED is worth the trip. It's
armchair travel at its best, a book that not only inspires fantasies
of visiting a far away place but one that truly encourages you
to expand your horizons. And who knows --- when I take my next
trip to France I just might try the civet de joue.
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- From Ginger Curwen, The Barnes and Noble
Review : Sometimes destiny calls early. To Harriet Welty,
growing up in Shenandoah, Iowa, the Normandy Inn, the town's
lone French restaurant -- run by "real French people"
-- not only represented the epitome of glamour but also inspired
a trip to Paris the summer before her senior year at college.
Once Welty got her first taste of Parisian life, she vowed to
return after graduation and stay forever. And that she did, marrying
a Frenchman, Philippe Rochefort, raising a family, and cooking
more than 21,000 French meals. Welty's French Fried offers a
perspective of the French through the eyes of an American expat.
Harriet Welty Rochefort tackled the French-American cultural
divide in an earlier book, French Toast, but here she concentrates
on French food, the French obsession with food, and her own culinary
successes and disasters over the past 30 years. She answers all
the usual questions asked by first-time visitors: Do you really
cook two four-course meals a day? Do the French really eat all
those disgusting animal parts? Do they really allow dogs in restaurants?
(Yes, yes, and yes.) She also explores the French respect for
structured mealtimes, their restaurant etiquette, their opposition
to snacks, and why the end of breakfast is merely an opportunity
to start thinking about lunch and dinner. Rochefort shares
some of her family's memorable meals and favorites recipes (onion
soup, blanquette de veau, chocolate mousse). She also takes us
to bistros and brasseries, on field trips to hypermarkets, local
markets, a cheese cave, a chocolatier, and a pastry course at
Lenôtre. Hoping to garder la ligne (maintain the figure),
she even checks into a peculiarly French institution, the thalassotherapie,
a hydrotherapy center where patients undertake four water-based
treatments every day and tuck into three-course meals for lunch
and dinner. The spa's lunch menu may illustrate best the French
approach to food, even under restrictions: first course, vegetable
cannelloni with sauce; entrée, chicken torte with a low-fat
sauce; and for dessert, fondant à l'orange. Vive la différence!
- Chicago Tribune,
Travel Section
- Winnetka Talk
- Wisconsin Public Radio "To The Best of Our Knowledge" interview
with Jim Fleming as part of a series of interviews about food
with foremost chefs, wine experts, and authors
- WCRX (NPR) Chicago,
host Barbara Clabrese
- Delta Sky
- More to come...
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