Return to Paris: A Memoir

""My first meal in France, in a hushed and formerly elegant dining car, was a revelation. The menu was absurdly simple; there was a choice of an" omelette aux fines herbes "or a" sandwich jambon beurre. "I chose the" omelette "and was delighted by the flavors of chives, tarragon and chervil mingling in the creamy lightness of the eggs, all so new to me. If the food in France was so good even in a train, I thought I might have a happy life here after all.""

In 1947, as Paris recovers from the war, young Colette returns to the city of her birth after eight years spent among warmhearted Egyptian relatives in Cairo. Initially Paris seems gray and forbidding to the young Colette, especially after her mother abandons her to the disinterested care of her stern grandmother. Yet Paris will prove the place where Colette awakens to her senses. Her transformation from "l'Egyptienne" to "la Parisienne" begins when she is taken under the wing of the family cook, Georgette, who introduces Colette to the city's markets and inspires a love and talent for French cooking. The streets of Paris soon become Colette's own as she navigates to and from her "lycee" -- occasionally skipping class altogether, thus beginning a decades-long habit of making room for adventure in an otherwise disciplined life. Colette is sixteen when her mother returns with a new husband, and although initially suspicious of the round man with the twinkling eyes, she soon realizes she has a soul mate in Almire Ducreux, her new stepfather. Mira introduces Colette to her first truffle and her gastronomical self. He will also be the only one to support her when she falls in love and runs away with a young American, scandalizingher proper French family.

With "Return to Paris," Colette Rossant proves herself the true heir of M. F. K. Fisher. In clear, understated prose she writes of a life lived and enjoyed passionately. Memories and family stories segue gracefully into descriptions of great meals and recipes. This is food writing at its finest.s