paris is always a good idea

Jane Bertch was just a teenager the first time she went to Paris. She was a Midwestern girl, raised in Chicago, and as a graduation gift, her mother took her to London and Paris. Jane was okay with London, but she felt like didn’t fit in Paris. There is an elegance and sophistication that Parisians had that she just couldn’t touch. She didn’t plan on returning.

After college, she found a good job in banking, and when a position opened up at a bank in London, she said yes. And after several happy years there, she found herself contemplating a move to a bank in Paris. It would be a demotion, but Jane was sure that it was the right move for her. She found an apartment, she met her new coworkers, and she proceeded to make mistake after mistake after mistake.

The French are very particular. There are exacting social rules, and Jane was breaking so many of them. She knew the language but was far from fluent. And while she was trying to learn the nuances of the language, she was also learning the nuances of the social rules. The French are actually very private, and they keep their personal lives to themselves. Americans, not raised with such boundaries, are not easily accepted into the French culture. It was years and many missteps later that Jane figured out the key to making friends in France.

After many years at the bank, finally getting the respect of her colleagues, Jane decided she wanted more. She wanted a passion. So after months and months of planning, she quit her job at the bank and opened a cooking school. Most of the cooking schools in Paris were for professionals, and that’s not what Jane wanted. La Cuisine would be warm and comforting, a chance for home cooks to learn techniques and for visitors to France to get a chance to cook real French food. Jane wasn’t a chef, so she had to find the right chefs to lead these classes.

As the years slipped by and issues arose, Jane had to keep trying new things. She wanted to have a class on croissants, but it took some work to figure out how to keep it to only 3 hours. She wanted to work with local artisans, but they were reluctant to join her. She had to survive an eviction, a terrorist attack near her building, a butter shortage, a mustard shortage, a volcano eruption that brought tourism to a halt, and a worldwide pandemic. But Jane used the skills she had learned as a plucky girl from Chicago and the experience of working with French businesses while in banking, and she has created a successful business and a full life.

With The French Ingredient, Jane brings it all together, all the mistakes she made, all the lessons she learned, and all the things about Paris that made her fall in love with the city. The book is part memoir, part travel manual for those wanting to know what makes Paris so special and how an American can survive it all. It’s warm and inviting, and it includes tips on how to act when invited to a French person’s home, how to set a table, how to behave during a toast, and how to do that double kiss on the cheek.

I have not yet had the chance to visit France, so I love to read books that can transport me there, and The French Ingredient did just that. I could picture the cafes and the bars, I could hear the merchants at the market, and I could feel the pain of those who could only stand on the sidewalk and watch as Notre Dame burned (I remember seeing it on the news, and feeling the same, although to a much lesser degree, I’m certain). I wanted to try the pastries and smell the meals that were cooked at La Cuisine. But mostly, I wanted to be there for the cheese. There are a lot of references to the cheese, so you may want to prepare yourself for that with a trip to your local cheesemonger, or maybe a few trips, as you learn more about the cheeses the longer you read.

But aside from the sharp cheese cravings, I loved this story of an American in Paris and recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about Paris, who loves to cook, who loves to eat, or who loves to listen to talk about artisan cheese.

Egalleys for The French Ingredient were provided by Ballantine Books through NetGalley, with many thanks.