From Publishers Weekly
When she was a teen, Rossant, whose mother was French and father was Egyptian, moved from Cairo back to Paris (where she was born) with her widowed mother to live with her grandmother in the upscale 17th arrondissement. This book charts Rossant's years in Paris and ends shortly after her marriage to an American. Although Rossant (Memories of a Lost Egypt) came of age in Paris during one of its headiest times-the 1950s-she doesn't offer much in the way of descriptions of the era. Instead, her memoir is personal, describing her struggles with her distant mother and her stern, difficult grandmother. It was hard for Rossant to get used to life in Paris: the city was gray and lifeless compared with lively Cairo; Rossant had to hide the fact that she'd been educated at a convent in Egypt (her Jewish grandmother in Paris would've been angry); her mother seemed to be interested solely in shopping and meeting men; and she had to get used to eating an omelette aux fines herbes for a snack instead of her usual semit, the Egyptian version of a soft pretzel. By exploring the wonders of French cuisine, Rossant found her way. She shares recipes throughout the book, interspersing them among anecdotes (e.g., when she butted heads with her grandmother, the cook's pain perdu [French toast] comforted her). This is mostly a pleasing memoir, but contradictions and repetitions in the text abound. These oversights will frustrate close readers, but those interested in food will still enjoy Rossant's careful explanations of meals and markets.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.
Booklist
In the first volume of her memoirs, Memories of a Lost Egypt (1999), food writer Rossant recounted her earliest upbringing in Cairo, Egypt. In this latest book, Rossant picks up the narrative with her 1947 removal to Paris. There she lives with her exceptional grandmother, having been deserted by her mother, who returned to the author's beloved Egypt without her daughter. During the war years, Rossant's grandmother had worked to disguise the family's Jewish origins, and this induced ambivalence in the youngster's self-image. Rossant initially found French food decidedly inferior to that of her beloved Egypt. The family cook, Georgette, soon convinced her otherwise, and Rossant fell in love with Camembert, swiftly followed by the discovery of Breton crepes. Enriched by the provisions of her father's will, Rossant began to travel and to explore French cuisine. This second part of Rossant's memoirs continues the tradition of interspersing text with recipes for dishes both simple and complex, from pain perdu to a whole goose and its artfully stuffed neck. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.
