Paris to Provence: Childhood Memories of Food & France

by Ethel Brennan, Remington, Sara

Paris to Provence is a culinary travelogue of separate summers spent in France, interweaving a collection of simple recipes with evocative memories and stories of those years.

“This beautiful mémoire will beguile everyone who loves France and should be essential reading for anyone going there for the first time. Ethel and Sara have captured a beloved place through the rosy, whimsical, wacky, tender, and honest lens of childhood. Forget three-star dining and luxury travel; this is the France that I love and remember with pleasure. The recipes are simple and soul satisfying—from café fare and home cooking to street food and a village feast. I was enchanted with the evocative photos and charmed by every memory.”
— Alice Medrich, author of Sinfully Easy Delicious Desserts

“To read Paris to Provence is to take a beautiful and wonderfully nostalgic journey to the France of my childhood, the France of sweet dreams. If you’ve ever had your soul captured by the magic that exists in the lighter side of la France profonde, and if you have a sensitivity toward joyful moments created around food, family, and friends, then Paris to Provence is for you. It’s a lovely book filled with classic and simple yet delicious French recipes. Somebody needs to open a restaurant here in the United States that uses this book to inspire its menu. I’d eat there at least once a week!”
— William Widmaier, author of A Feast at the Beach

Ethel and Sara beguile you with recipes and stories from their summer childhoods as they traveled with their respective families from Paris to Provence. In markets, cafés, truck stops, bakeries, bistros, and French family homes, the girls experienced their first taste of France, re-created here through recipes, stories, and photographs.

Inspired by her memories of truck stop lunches sitting next to tables of grizzled truckers, Ethel gives us Steak au Poivre à la Sauce aux Morilles (pepper steak with morels). Sara’s whimsical game of using her asparagus as soldiers’ spears to guard her food from her sister is the source of her recipe for Les Soldats (soft-boiled eggs and fresh asparagus spears). Lingering over late-night dinners with grown-ups and listening in on their stories of the resistance and wild boar hunts inspired Ethel’s recipe for Fraises au Vin Rouge (strawberries in red wine syrup). Rosemary and its powerful scent, first discovered by Sara while hiking with her family in the Luberon Mountains in the south of France, infuses her recipe for Cotes d’Agneau Grillées au Romarin (grilled lamb chops with rosemary). From Îles Flottantes (poached meringues in crème anglaise) to Escargots (snails in garlic butter), and from Merguez (spicy grilled lamb sausage patties) to Ratatouille (summer vegetable stew), each recipe reflects Sara and Ethel’s childhood experiences in Paris and Provence. Sixty thoughtful, simple, and traditionally French dishes complemented by over one hundred luscious photographs will send you to
your kitchen, and maybe even to France.

Genres: Cookbooks, Travel, Cooking, Nonfiction, Biography, France, Food

224 pages, Hardcover

First published April 30, 2013

Reviews

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ethel and Sara reminisce about their yearly trips to France as children in this book that explores the foods of the country from Paris to Provence with photos and recipes.

[E.G. Fabricant · Rating 5 out of 5]

CapRadio Reads scores again.

Last Saturday, Capital Public Radio’s own book club pulled out the stops for its members. We were invited to C. G. Di Arie Winery in Amador County to discuss June’s selection, Paris to Provence: Childhood Memories of Food & France, by Ethel Brennan and Sara Remington. Besides the usual book-launch appurtenances, for the price of a single Hamilton each, we got:

• Wine tasting (we came home with the “Buy Six/Get Eight” special);

• Terrific hors d’oeuvres;

• Warm, relaxed and insightful questioning by CPR’s Donna Apidone; and

• Relief! (We hid inside, among the cool fermentation vats; outside, it was 110 degrees.)

The story of the book is the glory of the book itself. Mmes. Brennan and Remington are Bay-area denizens 10 years apart in age who, after meeting working together professionally, discovered to their delight that they had much more in common that love of words and images. In their childhoods, they had spent every summer (Ethel) or every other summer (Sara) as American children in France, driving, tramping, and diving into the countryside, subject only to the laws of nature, normal sibling annoyance, and reasonable adult supervision:

[Read the rest of my review here.]

[Corey Cooper · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cute but simple

This book is good for a young reader's intro to French food. This reads more like a cute book of recipes with anecdotes from the authors. All of the recipes are widely known. Nice photos though.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great look into going to France and the food and culture.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun cookbook full of lovely anecdotes about a childhood full of summers in France from two points of view.

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too much childhood reminiscing in a cookbook for my tastes. Recipes tend to be classics that I've seen many times before.

[Darren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Is this a travelogue/memories book with some recipes added for good measure, or a recipe book with a travelogue and series of memories? Irrespective of what the publisher says, this reviewer is not so sure!

Nominally this book is described as a "culinary travelogue of separate summers spent in France, interweaving a collection of simple recipes with evocative memories and stories". Something doesn't just gel for this reviewer. Possibly, at the risk of appearing rude, are the memories so important, recording a certain timeline or from some notable person? Probably not. The creative writing feels just mainstream, typical text that doesn't jump out of the page, doesn't appeal or shine. It isn't bad, far from it, but nothing particularly special and when contrasted to the recipes it just feels like padding.

The recipes themselves, fortunately, are more appealing and interesting. Here the reader is able to form more of a connection through the recipe's introduction and descriptive text. The miniature recipe portraits can be read in isolation as bite-sized nugget should you so desire. Sadly the design and layout of the recipes themselves is a bit too laboured, text-heavy and quite onerous for a casual browse. For some strange reason everything is only presented in imperial units, you have to dig deep to figure out the preparation and cooking times and, for a book that is full of colour photography, there are very few pictures of actual dishes. Looking at the back of the book for a conversion table is no solution. Small bonus points are awarded for putting both the English and the French names of the recipes and the provision of a great index, something sadly you might be having to rely on thanks to the generally poor layout and disappointing signposting.

There is an interesting selection of recipes within the book yet it feels that you have to really fight to get to them. When you consider the price it doesn't feel a very good investment. There are better travelogues and similar memory books. There are better French recipe books. There was a lot of potential and scope for this book but at the end of the day why buy a book if you are going to resent it or just feel that it is such a hassle to go through it. You have to be really dedicated to do that and when there are many other books out there…

So in short a disappointing book that had a lot of potential. There will be gems inside the book if you have the time and patience to dig them out. As it stands, it feels over-priced but should it be remaindered or on a deep discount sale, you might want to invest a few minutes and see if you somehow can work with it.

Paris to Provence, written by Sara Remington & Ethel Brennan and published by Andrews McMeel Publishin. ISBN 9781449427511, 212 pages. Typical price: USD29.99. YYY.


// This review appeared in YUM.fi and is reproduced here in full with permission of YUM.fi. YUM.fi celebrates the worldwide diversity of food and drink, as presented through the humble book. Whether you call it a cookery book, cook book, recipe book or something else (in the language of your choice) YUM will provide you with news and reviews of the latest books on the marketplace. //

[Naomi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read my full review: http://bit.ly/12raW7O or http://bit.ly/120ua5v

My review: This cookbook was amazing. Between the author's stories of traveling France and the recipes, I was mesmerized. It made me want to head to Southern France and wine country even more! The pictures in the book of the French countryside really boosted that. Onto the recipes, the author offered a nice selection of recipe pictures. These recipes can be a bit more involved. The author also offered a nice selection of simple, elegant recipes as well.

Certain ingredients might be more difficult to obtain so be prepared for that issue. Although the author does state the ingredients can be purchased online.

As is my standard recommendation, due to the recipes and, particularly the cost of this book, a potential purchaser might want to view this cookbook from the library or a brick/mortar bookstore prior to purchasing. I can say that I enjoyed this book so much that even with the cost, it will more than likely be going in my Amazon shopping cart!

Be sure to keep and eye on The Pub and Grub Forum (http://thepubandgrubforum.blogspot.com/) as I will be featuring recipes from this dynamic cookbook on there!!!

[Sandra Noel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Paris to Provence is partly a travelogue of two different trips to France, and part cookbook. It is a beautifully photographed book, though I would have appreciated more photos of the dishes and not quite so many fancily photographed food items. The stories are fun, and the recipes are mostly fairly simple yet sophisticated and delicious. A helpful metric conversion chart is included in the back. I found myself dreaming of visiting the places talked about and eating this delightful food in the place that birthed it. A gem of a book that I would love to add to my personal collection!

I received a digital copy of this book from Andrew McMeel Publishing through NetGalley.com for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Laurel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Chatty, without much substance to it. I purchased and read this book because we plan to spend some time in the south of France this summer and I like to do some reading on the places before we visit, fiction, nonfiction, cookbooks, memoirs, whatever. Ethel Brennan and Sara Remington supply you with vignettes from their childhood visits to France, along with recipes for some of the basic dishes to be found in the region. Reading the book is like sitting down with the two of them at the kitchen table over coffee for an hour and listening to them reminisce. Not all that bad, I guess, if that's what you're looking for.

[Georgia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely memoir/cookbook that blends the reflections of two women recalling childhoods spent traveling across France with their families with charming recipes. Two chapters- one on bistros and another on "gouter" - are especially entertaining in vivid description and food choice. So enjoyable, with gorgeous photos to boot. The only thing stopping me from a 5 star rating is the rare clichéd writing in dome sections, but overall, quite good!

[Clare]

expired

[Jamie Holloway · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review to come on my blog

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed this cookbook, there are recipes I look forward to making.

[Annetteb · Rating 5 out of 5]

After spending several months in France, this was a gift from a friend who visited us while in France. What a fun book to read (gorgeous photography) and I can't wait to try some of the recipes.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Evocative childhood memories of travelling Paris to be envious of, splendid French recipes, spiced with delightful photos.

[Lua · Rating 4 out of 5]

So delicious...

[Beka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Absolutely gorgeous pictures and layout. Sadly none of the recipes spoke to me.