Bonjour Mes Amis!
Are you in the mood for a little trip to France?
I was so excited last Fall when I learned that renowned chef and restaurateur Alice Waters had written another children’s book about her daughter Fanny. I remember well when I first saw Fanny at Chez Panisse in a bookstore back in the mid 90’s.
You know that feeling when you see a book that looks interesting, and you casually pick it up, and as you’re fanning through the pages, your pulse starts to quicken and your senses go on high alert because, because — oh my, what’s this? wow! LOVE, yes! it’s love at first sight!?
I had not seen a book like that before — a children’s story with illustrated recipes! Usually stories were stories and recipes lived in cookbooks. But to combine the two? Brilliant!
So began my obsession newfound interest in food-related children’s books and illustrated cookbooks. I also wanted to move to Berkeley, California, immediately so I could dine regularly at Chez Panisse.
Like Fanny at Chez Panisse, Fanny in France is part fictionalized gastronomic memoir, part cookbook. While Fanny at Chez Panisse featured Fanny’s restaurant adventures (a big empty stockpot served as Fanny’s playpen), in this new book, 9-year-old Fanny recounts her family’s adventures with food and friends in a series of vignettes primarily set in the south of France. Though it’s been 24 years since we last heard from her, we’re reminded that time flies when you’re having fun..
