Mastering the Art of French Eating: Lessons in Food and Love From a Year in Paris

Summary (from the publisher): When journalist Ann Mah’s diplomat husband is given a three-year assignment in Paris, Ann is overjoyed. A lifelong foodie and Francophile, she immediately begins plotting gastronomic adventures à deux. Then her husband is called away to Iraq on a year-long post—alone. Suddenly, Ann’s vision of a romantic sojourn in the City of Light is turned upside down.

So, not unlike another diplomatic wife, Julia Child, Ann must find a life for herself in a new city.  Journeying through Paris and the surrounding regions of France, Ann combats her loneliness by seeking out the perfect pain au chocolat and learning the way the andouillette sausage is really made. She explores the history and taste of everything from boeuf Bourguignon to soupe au pistou to the crispiest of buckwheat crepes. And somewhere between Paris and the south of France, she uncovers a few of life’s truths.

Like Sarah Turnbull’s Almost French and Julie Powell’s New York Times bestseller Julie and Julia, Mastering the Art of French Eating is interwoven with the lively characters Ann meets and the traditional recipes she samples. Both funny and intelligent, this is a story about love—of food, family, and France.

Review: I won an advance uncorrected proof copy of this book as a giveaway on Goodreads.

Author Ann Mah is a diplomat's wife, who is thrilled to learn her husband has been assigned to one of her favorite places - Paris. Yet shortly after arriving in France, her husband is called away to serve in Baghdad for a year leaving his wife behind and on her own for a year. While lonely for her husband and alone in a foreign city, Mah decides to make the most of her time in the beautiful country she finds herself in through exploring the culture and history of France through its food. The result is the this beautiful memoir.
Having just recently read Julia Child's memoir My Life in France, I was struck by the similarities in their stories. "And then, somewhere in the midst of navigating new markets and memorizing new vocabulary, I remembered the wife of another American diplomat, a woman who had lived her sixty years earlier, another trailing spouse who needed to push to find her way: Julia Child" (3). Both are childless spouses of diplomats who find themselves sort of adrift in France. Both look to exploring food and cooking as a way to occupy their days and thoughts. Both write about food in a way that illustrates their true passion for well-prepared meals. Mah describes fondue, saying, "I speared a cube of bread and took a lazy dip. The fondue hit my palate with a creamy punch and tiptoed away in a breathy hint of wine" (192). Reading the accounts of her French meals is the next best thing to getting to try a bite myself.

Mah covers a variety of dishes, making one traditional French dish the focal point of each chapter. Over the course of the novel the reader is able to learn about steak fries, andouillette, crepes, salade lyonnaise, soupe au pistou, cassoulet, choucroute, fondue, boeuf bouruignon, and aligot. The author kindly includes a recipe at the conclusion of each chapter. Some of my favorite topics covered included the history of cafes and the lunch sandwich, which originated from demand from factory workers. "Every morning Madame Odette would slice an armload of baguettes lengthwise and fill them with butter and ham, or sticky slices of Camembert, or pate and cornichons. She'd stack the sandwiches like logs in a woodpile and sell them throughout the day" (21). Or the story relayed about the traditional recipe for crepes, which were mixed "by hand - she actually stuck her hand into the bowl of ingredients and beat everything together" (62). Or Mah's discovery that the "pistou" in pistou soup refers to a blend of garlic and olive oil - or what the Italians would refer to as pesto (117).

I think the single greatest thing that Mah did to help me truly appreciate this book was to research and provide background on each dish. By relating the food to the greater context of France's history, it allowed me to learn more about the culture and history of the country. This is not simply a book about Mah's experiences or food - it's about France and everyday French life as seen through the lens of French kitchens.

My only frustration with this book is that it was difficult for me to follow the timeline. In organizing each chapter around a particular food, the reader loses a sense of temporal movement. This led to the book almost feeling like a collection of individual articles. However, I enjoyed the centering of each chapter around a particular food too much to allow this to dampen my enjoyment of this enjoyable book by an accomplished food writer.

Stars: 4