Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
The French Ingredient: Making a Life in Paris One Lesson at a Time; A Memoir

The French Ingredient: Making a Life in Paris One Lesson at a Time; A Memoir

Bertch, Jane

Paperback

Culinary BiographiesBiographies GeneralFrance

Publisher Price: $20.00

ISBN10: 059350044X
ISBN13: 9780593500446
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Published: Apr 8 2025
Pages: 304
Weight: 0.45
Height: 0.70 Width: 5.10 Depth: 8.00
Language: English
The inspiring and delicious memoir of an American woman who had the gall to open a cooking school in Paris--a true story of triumphing over French naysayers and falling in love with a city along the way

An engaging, multilayered story of a woman navigating innumerable cultural differences to build a life in Paris and create her dream: to establish a French cooking school.--David Lebovitz, author of My Paris Kitchen

When Jane Bertch was seventeen, her mother took her on a graduation trip to Paris. Thrilled to use her high school French, Jane found her halting attempts greeted with withering condescension by every waiter and shopkeeper she encountered. At the end of the trip, she vowed she would never return.

Yet a decade later she found herself back in Paris, transferred there by the American bank she worked for. She became fluent in the language and excelled in her new position. But she had a different dream: to start a cooking school for foreigners like her, who wanted to take a few classes in French cuisine in a friendly setting, then bring their new skills to their kitchens back home. Predictably, Jane faced the skeptical French--how dare an American banker start a cooking school in Paris?--as well as real-estate nightmares, and a long struggle to find and attract clients.

Thanks to Jane's perseverance, La Cuisine Paris opened in 2009. Now the school is thriving, welcoming international visitors to come in and knead dough, whisk bechamel, whip meringue, and learn the care, precision, patience, and beauty involved in French cooking.

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