Adventures of Breakfast in America

I've read this food memoir as an adventure book. To be more precise, as a thriller of living and building the American dream in the beautiful Paris. Craig Carlson is not Henry Miller or Hemingway, but an American in love with French culture, as much as to call his pet Balzac, working hard throughout the intricated ways of the French bureaucracy for showing to the (French) world that America is more than hamburgers. By the way, finding a decent hamburger in Europe is not an easy search.

'Pancakes in Paris', to be released at the beginning of September, is especially a book about following your passion and making your dream come true, even with the price of a heart attack and a prison experience. It is also Craig's personal journey of finding himself and the love of his life.

Written with the same passion followed in pursuing his dream, this memoir also does a great work of cultural diplomacy of showing to Europe a different America, with sometimes a different but more efficient work culture and habits, with rich food choices and its culture of resilience. 'Breakfast in America' did a pioneering work in Paris, nowadays sharing delicious slices of American dreams for over 10 years, becoming a 'cultural crossroad between countries'.

With a background in screenwriting and experience in working with Disney studios, Craig Carlson was able to learn on the way and work hard to win the trust and checks of potential investors, set up business plans and, most importantly, not give up in the front of the intricacies of the French legislation. 

The book has also a collection of recipes, but unfortunately for me, no pancake recipe. It means I am left with the one and only option to check 'Breakfast in America' as soon as I will land in Paris.

Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher via NetGalley.com in exchange of an honest review

Foodie reading: Anya von Bremzen, Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking

It was a long time since I've read an interesting food memoir and blame me - not the scarcity of publications - for this situation. Luckily, my reading return was in full style, as Anya Bremzen's Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking resonated greatly with my own although peculiar, culinary experiences. 

Living in a totalitarian regime means that food and history and political evolutions are always going together. The modest opening of the regime may mean a dramatic change on the menu, as more ingredients become available thanks to the Party's gratitude, for instance. Being born in such a system gives you a certain ability to seize the right moment and eventually, improve the recipe. Thus, it is hard to say how much history and how much food you can find in this well-writen memoir. Biographical details and cooking skills are going together and the result is an extensive journey through the Soviet life - and kitchens. From tsarist Russia to Putin's nouveau riche, Anya von Bremzen covers with a journalistic attention all the details. You can feel the longing and imagine the smells going out of the kitchen in this Proustian Russian translation - and adaptation. 

Although enjoyed the story telling from the first part, the travel and writing part dedicated to the discovery of various regional cuisines of what used to be once Soviet Union was very appealing for me.

Fortunately, the book also has a couple of recipes at the end and I am curious to try some of them too - Cornbread for Khrushchev, anyone ?

Book review: A Tiger in the Kitchen

Did you ever have the feeling that someone did or write something you always wanted to do or write? this happened when I was reading this interesting food memoir, by Cheryl Tan. Is hard for me to include A Tiger in the Kitchen into any specific literary style - not that I ever wished to be a literary critic. 

It is about good writing for sure, but also about old memories and trying to define your history through smell and taste. Cheryl spent one sabbatical in the middle of his family learning how to cook the dishes of her childhood. She goes even far away from Singapore, in China, where the roots of her family are. Each recipe is a new door to the family intimacy, hidden stories and long trials, with successes and errors. 

The book presents two parallel cooking projects: one is directly related to recomposing her Singaporean home through food, the other is more related to improving the cooking skills, but also with a flavor of search of definitions of home: baking different types of bread, answering a challenge launchded to bakers on social media. 

A journalist, covering especially fashion event, Cheryl did not seem to dream too much about being a chef or a food writing at all. But as usual, you never know what it is in the box for you. All you need is to use the writing skills for putting on paper the story of your life. 

As a memoir, this books succeeded to bring a lot of good challenges and interesting stories. Do not expect too much first personal stories. The reader will not find too many passions and drama: even when it may be some tension - as in the case of her father taking a second wife - the tensions are melting as the butter in the pan. You need time to be a good cook - or writer - and time heals all the wounds or disappointments. 

A wandering soul myself, I can recognize myself in many episodes described in the book. My passion for cooking started out of nowhere once I decided to dedicate more time to my family. My daily cooking challenges are the result of following certain food restrictions and returning to the home that I had to leave at least once. I wish that I will be able soon to dedicate more time to learn to cook from chefs and improve my skills other than by making my own improvisations - not failures after all. Cooking may be a therapy as well, with the same effect as in Cheryl's case: 'In this cloud of cinnamon--scented zen, the pressures of New York would melt away'. 

Last but not least, what I've learned at the end of this book are many details about the history of the Singaporean cuisine and society. Each cuisine tells a story about culture and history and this memoir brought be closer to understanding a place that I am curios to visit once. 

It was a very pleasant reading that I regret having finished. The pages of the book brought me through my latest writer's block and helped me to see some literary light around. As I carried the book for at least three weeks, I often re-read some of the pages and felt the same pleasure of getting immersed into those sweet Singaporean stories.