A lesson in love told through recipes. The book begins with an American woman falling in love with a French man and follows her journey 
through adapting to a different culture – Paris.
It begins with Elizabeth going to lunch with a French man and falling in love. Through time she ends up moving to Paris, setting up a new life and discovering a whole new culture. Each chapter covers her story from that first date, the big move to Paris, the first supermarket trip, discovering markets, meeting the family and learning the language. It also deals with the sometimes more negative aspects of living abroad that any expat will experience at some point. Being away from her family and friends, alienated by not speaking the language, just wanting chinese from a box and tinned ravioli and poor (or standard European) customer service.
Despite the difficulty in moving abroad this is a very positive and successful account of a move to a new Country. Elizabeth finds her way through the love of food. Salad is no longer just a diet food and chocolate cake should never come out of a tin. Each chapter ends with 2 or 3 recipes associated with that part of the book.
Whether you are an expat or not, this book is recommended. It is a love story and an hilarious account of an American in Paris. The parts on customer service will strike a chord with anyone living in Europe. You will also want to start cooking up a little French storm in your kitchen. Unfortunately I cannot compare my expat experience to German food. Boiled pork, boiled potatoes and boiled veg (Germans do love to boil!) does not compete with any of the recipes in this book.
Enjoy and happy reading.
You can buy the book here. There are also French, German and Spanish versions.
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