The Chamberlain family spent a dozen blissful years in pre World War II France, with their beloved cook, Clementine, learning the gustatory pleasur...
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reviews
Apr 30, 2010
Joyce
rated it: 
Pulled this off the shelf for Clark and decided to reread it myself.
An American family living in Senlis, France, quickly repatriates in 1939, bringing their Burgundien cook Clementine with them to Marblehead, Mass.
It's a charming story of cultural adaptation: the family to French cuisine (even the 15-year-old daughter enjoys tete de veau) and later, Clementine to the American way of life. In describing Clementine's reaction to supermarkets (brand new in 1940), we get a More...
An American family living in Senlis, France, quickly repatriates in 1939, bringing their Burgundien cook Clementine with them to Marblehead, Mass.
It's a charming story of cultural adaptation: the family to French cuisine (even the 15-year-old daughter enjoys tete de veau) and later, Clementine to the American way of life. In describing Clementine's reaction to supermarkets (brand new in 1940), we get a More...
Aug 27, 2010
Taylor
rated it: 
This book was charming, cheerful and mouth-watering. The last chunk of the book consists of French recipes which are also sprinkled throughout every chapter. Don't read if you're hungry! The stories of Clementine adapting to American culture, coming from a small French village, are cute and hilarious. It's a lovely book. The picturesque descriptions of France, food, and Coastal New England, pre-WWII are thoroughly enjoyable. Truly recommend it.
Dec 04, 2008
Dan
rated it:
An enormously pleasurable read. This book chronicles a family's relationship with their French cook they hired while in France for business, and brought back with them in the months before Hitler invaded. Despite the serious background, this book is light-hearted and full of recipes. With less than 200 pages of real text before the appendix of recipes, it's a quick view into a time and place forever vanished.
Jan 06, 2012
*Kate
rated it: 
Clementine in the Kitchen is a fun little autobiography of an upper-class American family who lived in France before WWII and moved, along with their personal French cook back to the states as the war was heating up. I felt the book got a little pretentious at times ... with significant sentences in French, I felt the author would definitely look down his nose at me for not being able to translate. I definitely look at it as an autobiography and not as a cookbook. Despite the many recipes, there
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Feb 23, 2009
Dianne
rated it: 
Silly, but pleasant. More interesting as a history of how a certain echelon of people once lived--with private cooks who were treated almost as family members. A little off-putting for those of you who are proles.
Jan 18, 2008
Pinki
rated it:
This book is amazing and not so amazing. It is a cookbook and an autobiography of a family who lived in pre WW II France with their beloved cook Clementine. The author of the book sounded a little snobby in regards to the types of wines, techniques, and 3 or 4 sentences at a time in French with no explanation preceding it. All in all, this book will make your mouth water, want to experiment with French cooking, and actually visit the remote French country side. The best part is there are over 16
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Aug 24, 2008
Alys
rated it:
A sweet story of inter cultural adaptation. Parts were a bit too cute for me, but it's interesting to see the "French" way of doing all things cuisine described in such detail. If anything, it inspired me to check out some Julia Child. As a pseudo-vegetarian, only about half the recipes were of interest; however, they do indeed seem worth seeking the ingredients for. Also the chapter on escargot (a bit my mom read to me years ago that got us both in stitches) is priceless.
Jun 08, 2011
Pippin
rated it:
A fascinating view into American and French cuisine circa 1940. Clementine is a delight and she is at the center of this story - rightly so. I was amazed that so many of the current attitudes to food were already in place before the second world war: supermarkets, pre-packaged food, color advertising, in store music, and on and on. Contrast that with the markets in france at the same time and two cultures approaches to food stand in stark relief.
Sep 14, 2007
Arwen
rated it:
The first of the narrative cookbooks I ever read. I didn't know such bliss existed! The story of an American family in France before the second world war and their Burgundian cook, and the things she made for them, and then how she adapts once they move to America during the war. Such delicious food! Reading it is like eating a meal. The section on making escargot is the best.
Nov 26, 2007
Emily
rated it:
I loved this book!!! It's totally sweet and silly - with lovely illustrations. I haven't tried any of the recipes but they seem good - unlike many old cookbooks they don't ask you to do impossible things like get a teacup full of leaf lard or hang a duck in a cool part of your cellar for 2 weeks…
Jul 02, 2008
Patricia
rated it:
The decision to reissue this pre-war memoir was a good one because the stories, though maybe not the recipes, are fresh and light. I never get tired of reading about Americans in France and this is an especially funny entry in that genre.
Oct 10, 2008
Melissa
rated it:
This was an enjoyable tale! I especially liked Chamberlain's drawings throughout. I'm now trying to hunt down a copy of one of the prints, "Manhattan Twilight."
Dec 17, 2009
Jono
rated it:
nothing at all earth-shattering, but sort of cute. if you've got a foodie/francophile friend, they'll enjoy this slice of "everday life." We are what we eat, indeed.
Sep 07, 2008
Ellie
rated it:
It's neat to peek into American's diet during 1940s and see how different definitions of what's gourmet then and now. This book made me hungry!
Feb 05, 2012
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