On Sale Date: April 9 2024
Pages: 304
I reviewed a review copy from the publisher
Chicago born Jane Bertch was working for an American bank in London, and was relocated for her work to Paris. But during her work there, she slowly started to realise that she didn't love her work anymore, and she got the idea to open a location where people could take French cooking lessons. With her new French boyfriend Olivier, she dives in this new business opportunity ; Looking for the right location , hiring French cooks and finding the right target audience for the classes.
And the La Cuisine Paris cooking studio is officially open. While first being aimed at a French audience, which doesn't really take off, she decides to shift the audience to tourists and expats, which works better for the cooking studio. The bookings go well, but there are some unforeseen circumstances coming along that cause a dramatic drop in Paris tourism and in the bookings; the iceland ash cloud and the horrific terrorist attacks in Paris on November 15 2015. Luckily, the cooking studio crawls out if the tourist dip and still exists today. In highly entertaining book, Jane also describes the written and mostly unwritten French etiquette rules she had to get accustomed to as an American; so is looking into a pot to see what someone is cooking in a French home kitchen seen as invasive, as the kitchen is considered a private area, why it is next to impossible to become friends with French coworkers, why you should never arrive on time when invited for a dinner or bring wine with you as a guest to a dinner, and why every French chef sees their way of cooking and the only right way, to name a few etiquette examples. After being located in the courtyard of a typical Parisian Apartment Building, La Cuisine Paris is now located at a beautiful place along one of the Quai's of the Seine.
The French Ingrediënt is a very entertaining and fun memoir, that leaves you craving Paris food and to take a cooking class at La Cuisine Paris. Jane Bertch is truly a magnificent author. I have only been in Paris gor one day, but this book makes you travel to Paris again , as you just can feel the Paris atmosphere and the love the author has for Paris and cooking in the book. I loved that this book describes so many topics about living in Paris and where you stumble upon as an American
This is one of the very best books that are out this year and I truly recommend it!
( but make sure you have a macaron or croissant while reading, because this book makes you crave them !)
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