On Rue Tatin: Living and Cooking in a French Town

Paperback - 30 April, 2002 - Broadway
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By: Susan Herrmann Loomis
ISBN: 0767904559

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About this book

It has been said that food defines a culture. For the French, food is an integral part of their coveted tradition, and Susan Herrmann Loomis's new book On Rue Tatin embraces both. As a young, recent American college graduate, Loomis left the U.S. for France to attend one of the oldest French cooking schools, La Varenne. Her intent was to immerse herself in French cooking with the aspiration of becoming a food critic. Working as the French equivalent of an apprentice, she quickly became intimate with the ways and traditions that define the French culture, specifically its cuisine. On Rue Tatin ("On Tatin Street") is a descriptive narrative of Loomis's first several years in France, her encounters with the local people, and the bonds she formed, as well as recipes she gathered during her time there.

Following her formal culinary training, Loomis returned to the U.S. and met the man who would become her husband. After the couple's first son turned 2, they moved to France where Loomis was determined to launch her writing career focusing on unique aspects of French farming cuisine. She and her husband eventually purchased an old monastery in Louviers in the Normandy region of France. One of the more humorous and memorable stories she shares concerns the landlord of the small rental that they occupied for a year while her husband remodeled the monastery to livable conditions. During that year, the wife of the landlord believed them to be CIA agents and chose to keep a cold distance from the family. Meanwhile the French police suspected them of dealing drugs.

Every recipe featured throughout this memoir comes with an interesting, anecdotal story, and is very much representative of traditional French cuisine. Gateau au Chocolat de Mamy (or Mamy Jacqueline's Chocolate Cake) is a dense, almost death-by-chocolate confection, but served alone or with a fresh fruit coulis, it will bring a smile, as will the sweet explanation of its origin.

Loomis describes experiences and people with much detail, sometimes several times over, and her prose allows the reader to imagine the tempting smells and vivid colors of the countryside. You may find yourself wishing to see pictures of Loomis's home and the quaint village where she lived, but perhaps that was Loomis's intent--she wants to tempt and challenge you to experience the beauty and foods of Louviers and the Normandy region for yourself. --Teresa Simanton

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Reviews by readers

Cook in France

What fun to go to France, retore an old building and open a cooking school. "On Rue Tatin" is a great read for anyone who loves France and loves to cook. It makes me want to enrole in the cooking school tomorrow which one can do.

A delicious tale

This book is delightful glimpse into the life of an American family living in Normandy France. Loomis' tale of her culinary adventures mixed with generous helpings of the French culture, make a recipe for a delicious story. The easy-to-follow recipes are simple to make but have unique twists for such Normandy classics as Clafoutis and Tarte Tatin.

Hard to put your finger on.

When you see a book of this nature you have certain expectations. You want to immerse yourself in the culture along with the author and learn to assimilate with them in their newly adopted country along the way. Susan Loomis never seems to accept, assimilate or adjust in this book.

She is obviously an excellent cook and writer of cookbooks and the recipes in this book are marvelous. But the writing in "On Rue Tatin" is subpar. Now if you're looking for any account about France then you might be able to take the bad prose. But the act of living and "working" in France just doesn't seem to mesh. She spends a chapter complaining about the church and the priests next door, the owners of the flower shop across the street, old ladies who park their bikes leaning against the front of their precious building, the French school system, educational system and I don't think I got it all.

Consider if a French family moved into your small town in Iowa and bought the historical building on the town square next to the church you've been going to for all of your 70 year and then started making demands for your pastor to change his ways and constantly remind you how it would be done in France.

Some things that went beyond the story bothered me also. She seems to try to hard to convince the reader that they do not come from a priviledged or moneyed background but things just don't add up. They can't seem "to afford" this old convent and need to take a loan from their acquaintances but they choose to keep their home in Maine. They fly their "babysitter" over from the US to watch their child even though neither of them are working. I think most of us would call this a "nanny." She complains about shortages of money but in the next chapter buys a 6000 dollar stove.

That all said there are definitely charming and enjoyable parts to this book but I would check it out of the library.

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