The Hundred Foot Journey by Richard C. Morais
This charming, funny and compulsively readable novel is a delicious tale of restaurant rivalry, the desperate quest for Michelin Stars and the hundred-foot distance between a new Indian kitchen and a traditional French restaurant in Paris.
Abbas Haji is the proud owner of a modest family restaurant in Mumbai. But when tragedy strikes, Abbas propels his boisterous family into a picaresque journey across Europe, finally settling in the remote French village of Lumiere, where he establishes an Indian restaurant, Maison Mumbai.
Much to the horror of their neighbour, a famous chef named Madame Mallory, the Indian establishment opposite her own begins to garner a following. Little does she know that the young Hassan, son of Abbas, has discovered French cuisine and has vowed to become a great French chef. Hassan is a natural whose talents far outweigh Mme. Mallory, but the tough old Frenchwoman will not brook defeat.
Thus ensues an entertaining culinary war pitting Hassan's Mumbai-toughened father against the imperious Mme. Mallory, leading the young Hassan to greatness and his true destiny.
This vivid, hilarious and charming novel - about how just a small distance of a hundred feet can represent the gulf between different cultures, different people, their tastes and their destinies - is simply bursting with eccentric characters, delicious flavours and high emotion.
'Outstanding! A completely engaging human story heavily larded with the lushest, most high-test food porn since Zola. Easily the best novel ever set in the world of cooking - and absolutely thrilling from beginning to end. I wished it went on for another 300 pages' - Anthony Bourdain
About the Author
Richard C. Morais has been a senior editor at Forbes for over twenty years and was once the magazine's European bureau chief. He grew up in Europe, was an actor before becoming a journalist, and is well connected in the media and film communities. A longtime friend of the late Ismail Merchant, the venerable producer behind Merchant and Ivory Productions, he and Ismail Merchant used to enjoy lavish meals together and had always dreamed of collaborating on a project that would join their shared love of food with Richard's desire to write and Ismail's film experience. The Hundred-Foot Journey is the result of Richard's promise to write a book about food which Ismail could make into a film. And although Ismail passed away before the project came to fruition, film rights have been sold.
Format: Paperback | 336 pages
Dimensions (cm): 19.0 x 13.5 x 2.4 | 320g
Publication Date: 01 Dec 2010
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Publication City/Country: Crows Nest, Australia
Language: English
Edition Number: 1
ISBN10: 9781742373
ISBN13: 9781742373744
Condition: Good
A book that has been read but is in good condition. Very minimal damage to the cover including very minor scuff marks and creasing along the edges, but no holes or tears. All pages are undamaged with no creasing or tearing, no pencil underlining of text, no highlighting of text, no writing in margins. No missing pages.