Madeleines in Manhattan: A Memoir with Recipes

by Colette Rossant

It is 1955, and Colette Rossant, newly married, has just arrived in America with her husband Jimmy. She is twenty-two, a Frenchwoman in New York, bemused by American customs and most importantly by the the limp sandwiches, the ubiquitous mayonnaise, the iceberg lettuce. But post-war New York is humming and Colette and Jimmy discover a whole new world in Greenwich theatre and avant-garde cinema, farmer's markets and Jewish delis. Colette slowly falls in love with her adopted country, relishing the brisket sandwiches at Katz's, the exquisite dim sum in Chinatown and the Italian pastries in Mulberry Street. "Madeleines in Manhattan" is the story of her journey from young housewife and passionate cook to acclaimed food writer, from the romantic early days of marriage to grandmotherhood, told with her unique ability to conjure up her memories through food.

Genres: Food, Memoir, Nonfiction, Travel, Cookbooks, Biography

288 pages, Print on Demand (Paperback)

First published January 21, 2008

About the author

Colette S. Palacci Rossant was born in Paris but spent most of her childhood in a mansion in the Garden City district of Cairo, Egypt, raised by her paternal grandparents and a host of aunts and cousins -- all of whom excelled in the kitchen. Her closest childhood friend was Ahmet, the house cook.

At the age of 15 she returned to Paris to finish her studies and lived with her maternal grandparents. In Paris, under the tutelage of her stepfather, she met numerous French chefs and learned about her French culinary heritage. Then at 22 she married American architect James Rossant and moved to New York.

In 1970, Colette started a cooking school for children that developed into a television show for PBS called Zee Cooking School, which also launched her first of seven cookbooks, Cooking with Colette (Scribners 1975) and two translations of Paul Bocuse. In 1979, she became the Underground Gourmet writer for New York Magazine and in 1982, the Food and Design editor of McCalls. In 1984 she started a new magazine called America Entertains for Time Warner. In 1993, she became a food columnist for the Daily News with a Wednesday column (now available online as "Ask Colette!". In addition, she has also been a culinary partner in two New York restaurants, Buddha Green and Dim Sum Go Go.

She has been nominated for a 1997 James Beard Award for Magazine Feature with Recipes, a 2000 IACP Cookbook Award for her book Memories of A Lost Egypt (originally published by Clarkson Potter in 1999 but now republished by Atria 2004), and a 2002 Thomas Cook Travel Book Award for its UK version Apricots On the Nile (Bloomsbury 2002).

Reviews

[Charlie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A small book with a beautiful cover, I mostly picked this one up because I thought it was about food in Manhattan in the 1950s. It is (but only at the beginning) and Colette Rossant does write about food beautifully, but I found the overall tone of the book a little strange: very spotty in its coverage, often off-point (if a personal memoir can ever be off-point) and despite the extraordinary life she's led and the extraordinary opportunities she's had, also oddly negative. And it's quite clunkily written.

The book was still well worth the read though, for the descriptions of wonderful meals (including one cooked by a Japanese imperial chef) and for Rossant's open-mindedness and her multicultural outlook, which seems to have made her a fusion foodie about thirty years before those terms were invented.

[Tracey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very different autobiography. Madeleine send a lovely person, beautifully obsessed with food. She is a lady that is very family orientated and that is beautifully shown over all the pages of this book. The The recipes throughout the book and promote different cultures throughout her life. Recipes make the book a little bit more special and I can’t wait to try and cook some of them.
This book was a little bit slow paced and for me that is probably the only downfall. I think I would’ve liked. Some photos of the food that she was cooking or describing, otherwise a lovely read .

[Leilani Serfontein · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful read!

[Anastasia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adore foodie memoirs and Colette's journey from France to NYC was an interesting read!

[Georgie · Rating 5 out of 5]

a wonderful book about the author's life in New York City after she moved there with her American husband in 1955. Colette Rossant loves food, and despite her initial shock at some American offerings - iceberg lettuce and boring mayonaise- she soon comes to discover the rich variety of food the city has to offer. Although her family go through some tough times, she never loses her love for the city, her family, and good food. There are also fascinating tales of her travels around the world, meeting people from different cultures and trying different cuisines.

[Ilonita50 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great memoir book of a lady who starts her story when she was a young girl and till the moment she's writing the book. Her life has been living in different continents and via food/ dish discoveries she's about to shape her life - knowing and befriending new friends, fulfilling sudden opportunities with tv shows and writing books.

The author has great storytelling, I enjoyed that apart from other memoirs of foody people, this one also include real recipes! Ups and downs, difficulties and cheerful mode.

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

A quickly-paced memoir about a woman who became a food writer. I thoroughly enjoyed the pace, but thought the editing and recipes could use some revision. Still interesting and would recommend to a food or travel student interested in a memoir that's a quick read.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reasonably interesting, but terribly edited! Loved it initially, but it deteriorated quickly.
Read like it was abridged. Lots of chronological errors, and good old -fashioned typos.

[Sharon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Such a great concept but completely misses the mark due to bad editing, spelling and grammar errors.

[Bev Maybury · Rating 3 out of 5]

Began reading this before going on holidays but left off to read "The Daughters of Mars" as I didn't find this book really interesting - but then, I'm not a cook & not interested in cooking.