An American Family in Paris: Letters from the Seventh Arrondissement

Sally Fallon’s best selling cookbook, Nourishing Traditions, isn’t mentioned in her charming Paris memoir, but as a grateful fan due to my improved health and newfound joy in cooking, I was curious to see what effect living in Paris had on her, since French cuisine fits beautifully into the Nourishing Traditions way of cooking—lots of lard, butter, cream, eggs, rich cheese, fish, bone broth, and marrow.Julia Child was another American in Paris and we all know what big changes occurred here when her French cooking program began broadcasting on PBS in 1963 (8 years later, Alice Waters, another visitor to Paris, and friends opened Chez Panisse in Berkeley). Some combination of fate and serendipity allowed these dynamic, determined people to follow their taste buds and start a revolution that helped millions of Americans to also escape factory foods.More recently, Sally’s cookbooks, which now include one about bone broth and another for children, explain nutrition to many more people, including me, who never watched a food show on TV. The food revolution is still about ingredients and deliciousness, but now the nutrition part is no mere afterthought.Food rich in nutritious animal fats has an uphill climb because our government still preaches a low-fat menu, despite anthropological evidence and rigorous research to the contrary, while endorsing high carbs, which nowadays means a lot of sugar, although grains weren’t significant in human diet until the ‘recent’ innovation of farming arrived a mere 10,000 years ago.Sally was inspired by Weston A. Price, DDS, a nutrition pioneer. He and his wife Florence devoted ten years to visiting far flung traditional communities to see what they ate to be so healthy and free of tooth decay. Within one generation, people’s health plummeted if they gave up traditional food and relied on highly processed foods. Dr. Price brought back food, soil, and saliva samples, for analysis, as well as lots of photographs showing that people raised on lower quality food have narrower faces, crowded, decayed teeth, and V-shaped dental arches instead of the U-shaped arches of people consuming only the traditional food of their ancestors, all documented in his book, Nutrition and Physical Degeneration. (More at WestonAPrice.org, the foundation Sally and like-minded friends founded a mere 16 years ago)In her Letters from the Seventh Arrondissement, Sally, then raising four rambunctious kids, reports on various educational differences between France and the US. She also explains why kitchens were so cramped and dim in the finest houses, and even ordinary apartments have just walls, with no cupboards or appliances. Shopping for food in the neighborhood was charming but for her big family she also went to the 1980s French version of a supermarket. With help from Richard Morris’ lively illustrations, she explains the pros and cons of concierges, describes the beautiful bridges, and tells how to cope with innervating bureaucracy. We also find out how toddlers play with bidets, the importance of movies, and join her admiration for a culture where people appreciate both logic and beauty.Sally doesn’t explicitly describe how her family’s sojourn in France affected her later role as a nutrition educator, but reading between the lines, I suspect it was similar to Julia and Alice’s experience in France-- really good food as a normal part of daily life changes ones outlook in unexpected and wonderful ways.

A cute little book that let me peek into yet another French life experience. A pretty short book but did keep me reading.

I really enjoyed reading this book. In fact, it is exactly what I love in a book, a true story told in a way that captures my attention. Her description of the hospital birth is laugh out loud funny and as a former real estate agent, I loved the section on her apartment acquisition. Fascinating, captivating, and full stop delightful to read.

Oh, for the love of Paris! I devoured this delightful book in two sittings, and it helped assuage a decades-long yearning to live in Paris. I felt as if I was part of the family as I accompanied the author on her sometimes hilarious two-and-a-half-year-long ride on that only-in-Paris learning curve. From homework lessons to what French families really eat, Fallon Morell's precise observations, delivered with affection and wit, bring to life the cultural mores and every-day behaviors -- both endearing and exasperating -- of Parisians. I grew to love them and their gorgeous city, and I miss them already.

A delightful book, well written and laugh out loud funny. In depth stories and very descriptive of place and happenings like during the birth of a child and dealings with the hospital, those beautiful elevators and irate Parisian cab drivers...oh my! Observing others and French customs on a daily basis, during a time not so long ago...an enjoyable read.