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Letters about French Toast...		Letters about French Fried
From Gloria H. : "I have just finished reading your book French Toast. It has been my bedtime reading over the past two weeks. However the problem is that I do not fall asleep, but many nights ended up staying up later than I should have and I was late for work twice as a result of oversleeping" (Dec.2007) from Eileen M. : Since my daughter offered to take me to Paris next spring, I have been reading up on Paris and France. Your French Toast was the best all-around collection of stories revealing French attitudes and character that I have found. It was exactly what I was looking for, not just history, or a guide book, but a helpful explanation of French thinking and etiquette. I hope to understand a people before I visit their country. You have helped to make my trip much more enjoyable. From Georgina G. : Thanks for sharing your wit and wisdom with Francophiles around the globe. From Becky B., Tennesee : Having read numerous books on French and the French, plus having lived in Paris, I was skeptical that I would come across any new information. How wrong was I! This book is a fabulous find and highly amusing. I particularly enjoyed the opening chapter when Harriet talks about her childhood and how she always felt as if every knock at the door was someone coming to take her away and that she always knew she would live somewhere far away from her small town. I feel the same way! As a 19 year old in a small Southern town in Tennessee, I only hope that I will have the success with finding a French man (I'm moving back to Paris in August) that Harriet did. I really loved the book. From Kevin D: I want to thank you for the wonderful Sunday afternoon you gave me with your fantastic book, "French Toast"....I have always dreamed of coming to Paris and after reading your book... I plan on making it there and who knows love might find its way to me as well...Again thank you so much for sharing your book with the world. From Heidi K. (a Bookstore person): Just wanted to jot down a note to you. I loved your book. I will be in Paris later this month and was having a terrible time with the travel guides finding out about the people who are the country. You really helped. I work in a Barnes @ Noble and last week when I was shelving (your book), a woman asked me how it was. I told her. She bought it. Said she was leaving for Paris in an hour and that was just what she was looking for too. Just thought you should know. From Linda O-F: I read your book earlier this year (a wonderful gift from an American friend living in Paris). I roared with laughter--been married to a Frenchman for 15 years (we live in Eastern PA) and could really relate. From Mark 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'éudie le français depuis trois ans, and since then, France, its language, and its culture have become for me a veritable passion ... I could truly empathize with the feelings you expressed in your book: being "etiquettely" sound, fearing being foiled by marchands, yearning for a convincing accent, etc. 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. :)		A reader from Paris France writes : "Another tour de force from the author of French Toast! The flavor of France is vividly captured and she makes it easy to understand why so many of us who discovered this wonderful country have never left it. Tired of ingesting garbage that calls itself food? You'll never do it again once you have read French Fried." A reader from North Carolina writes : "I loved the author's self-deprecating humor as she tells the story of her love of French food and shares the wealth of information she has gleaned both from living in France for three decades and from talking with some of the foremost people in France's food world. After reading what she says about cheese, I can't wait for my next trip to France to feast on some "real" Brie. Meanwhile, her tips on what makes a good cheese plate have been put to use as have her simple but delicious recipes. After a spate of books from food "experts", most of whom couldn't mix up a simple green salad, this book is a gem."  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 lead 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!

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To table of contents To top of the page Back to home page	Harriet Welty Rochefort writes articles and books about France and the French. Order her books : "Joie de Vivre", Secrets of Wining, Dining and Romancing like the French, St.Martin's Press, New York, 2012 "French Toast, An American in Paris Celebrates The Maddening Mysteries of the French", St.Martin's Press, New York, 1999 "French Fried, The Culinary Capers of An American in Paris", St.Martin's Press, New York, 2001 More on Harriet's books (excerpts, upcoming events, testimonials, etc..)
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