Mastering the Art of French Eating: From Paris Bistros to Farmhouse Kitchens, Lessons in Food and Love

For various reasons, I'm given/receive a LOT of books that I generally lump into the category of "woman-moves-to-a-country-that-isn't-the-USA...where she meets (and learns to LIKE!) people and food that aren't what she grew up with in Milwaukee or Atlanta. Quite frankly, I find most of them very tiresome (mostly because they're utterly predictable). As Miss Jean Brodie witheringly said "For those who like that sort of thing, that is the sort of thing they like".I'll admit to receiving Anne Mah's "The Art of Mastering French Eating"....and immediately assuming it would be yet another cliche. I'll also gladly admit that I was quite wrong; "Mastering the Art of French Eating" is lively, engaging, often quite funny (an important quality, I think), disarmingly self-deprecating at times, and completely charming (it's also usefully instructive in terms of "what do you do with your life for a year when you don't know what to do with it?"). Ann Mah does NOT just throw herself on the ground and play the bereaved heroine.To be honest?.....my first thought, upon finishing this book (presumably, other reviews will contain synopses of the plot) was to order copies for six women I know (I live fairly close to Fort Bragg) whose husbands are, perforce, gone on military duty....often for what seems an unbearably long time. None of them are in the least bit "cooks" or spend any more time in the kitchen than can be avoided.I assume that plenty of other folks will congratulate Ms. Mah on her culinary reporting, etcetera. I gave the book to friends (all of whom are in circumstances such as Ms. Mah faced when her diplomat husband was posted in very-dangerous Iraq for a year) because I thought it was wise (from her own direct experience), funny, and a good guide on How To Pick Yourself Up & Do Something That Will Make Both You and Your Husband Proud.In short?...it's a very fine & lovely book....for a lot of good reasons.Quite Sincerely,David [email protected][...]

Mastering the Art of French Eating is a well written memoir with recipes although I Ann Mah's novel Chinese Kitchen much more.Although I thought it was well written, and engaging neither my husband nor I particularly like French food so some of the descriptions of tripe, brains and other inards , lots of bacon which we only have on a very rare occasion and very little meat or cheese etc. Most of the recipes were very unhealthy and usually very rich food everything loaded with tons of butter/ cream, lots of meat, usually lots of bacon, and way too much cheese and other dairy products etc. This isn't the way we eat, we eat very healthy, but always wonderful very healthy food, a good Mediterranean diet. I use dairy products very very sparingly and very infrequently, EVO instead of butter 99% of the time, very very very little red meat only a tiny bit a few times a year, no tripe , bacon only 1-2 x annually, no steaks, no hamburgers, no frites ( french fries ever), lots of vegetables, salads, fish, chicken , fruit, lentils and other legumes. I cook mostly Middle Eastern food which is healthy and delicious, that's what we eat out also , we also eat healthy Indian food, particularly at a vegetarian restaurant near us, and sushi.

It took me longer to read Ann Mah's "Mastering the Art of French Eating" than I had anticipated, because I savored every sentence, sometimes stopping to read a delicious or funny passage to my husband. And then there are the recipes at the end of each section that inspired me to put the book down and COOK! Wonderfully written, this memoir draws you into Mah's world as she navigates the challenges of a year without her husband nearby, settling into a new home in a new country, finding meaningful work and coming to terms with the type of life that comes with marring a diplomat. (It's an enviable life, to some or most, but we all have to reconcile what we expected from our lives and what we actually find or get.) In doing so, Mah burrows into the reader's heart with her humor, courage, humility, and gastronomic enthusiasm. This memoir would make a fun, touching and mouth-watering movie--I hope someone makes one! This is a fun summer read, but also fall, winter or spring, as there's a lot of cooking to be done afterwards and some of the dishes are best in cold weather!

I am still in the process of reading this book and so annoyed I stopped to write this review . The author writes using French words & phrases often without translation . I do not want to interrupt the flow of reading to Google French / English dictionary's ! Is this an affectation or is she attempting to bring more culture to this food & travel memoir ? I don't care , I don't like ,it's stupid & bourgeois ! Ha ! I understand the use of a foreign word here or there to relay a sense of the country though the usage here is every 3 or 4pages . Other then this exasperating complaint the book is somewhat entertaining and the writing very real . I do get a sense of who Ann Mah is as a writer & a person . I just don't understand the constant use of French without English translations .

Great entertaining book. Loved the story as well as the recipes! Recommended to read if you love France and cooking!

loved every morsel!

I did not like this book at all, infact, I haven't finished it because I just can't read another page of it, very boring.

Even as a Frenchman who loves his andouillette, cheese and garlicky snails, I've learnt so much reading this book. Ann Mah has carried out a serious investigation into the ``classic" French dishes, which is demonstrated by the amazing detail and her perfect description of French culture. In this book, the food is not a background afterthought, as it unfortunately is in so many books about France. Mastering the Art of French Eating explores the deep link between food and love in an artful way which is sometimes moving and often witty and amusing (the "soupe au pistou" chapter is a piece of art in its own right!). And this is the strong point of this beautiful book: the storytelling is so wonderful, you almost don't want Ann's year alone in Paris to end and you end up wishing Calvin's Iraq assignment had been a little longer.En bon Français qui ne peut pas se passer d'andouillettes, de fromages ou d'escargot à l'ail, j'ai énormément appris en lisant ce livre. La précision des détails et la parfaite appréhension de la culture française prouve qu'Ann Mah a mené une enquête fouillée. La cuisine française n'est pas seulement un charmant décor dans ce livre, défaut constaté dans bien des livres sur la France. "Mastering the Art of french eating" explore habilement le lien profond entre amour et cuisine. C'est parfois émouvant, souvent drôle et bourré d'esprit (le chapitre sur la soupe au pistou est un modèle du genre !). C'est le point fort de ce merveilleux livre : Ann Mah raconte si bien son année solitaire à Paris qu'on finit par souhaiter que la mission de Calvin en Irak se prolonge un tout petit peu.

Very entertaining, as a non-French has captured not only their kitchen but also describes their charm and uniqueness. After having read The Lost Vintage, now I am looking forward to her future work.