Vie de France: Sharing Food, Friendship, and a Kitchen in the Loire Valley

An ex-chef/restaurateur, Haller, in his early 60s, was looking for the next thing to do, and the house and his diary-keeping provided a necessary break that eventually led to a full-time writing commitment, of which this book is a result. His journey from fearfulness about the outcome of a spur-of-the-moment plan to relaxation and revelation in the French countryside is gratifying. Readers follow the process, joining Haller and company as they discover town butchers where meat is cut to order, supermarkets with multiple cheese aisles, local chateaux, and more while experiencing some of the predictable crosscultural contretemps. Though narratively thin, and lacking the exploration of self and others necessary to paint a penetrating picture, the book manages nonetheless to convey the culinary life and spirit of flower-saturated Savennieres. --Arthur Boehm

Product Description
When award-winning chef James Haller and his closest friends toasted his sixtieth birthday, he thought that their dream of spending time together in a beautiful house in Europe would remain just a dream. But a year and a half later, they arrived at a charming 17th-century chateau in the Loire Valley that would be their home for the next month.

Haller swore not to cook, but the local abundance of fresh foods, herbs, and wines soon had him preparing all the group's meals-and loving it. They breakfasted on oven-fresh croissants slathered with French butter, strolled endless fields of glorious sunflowers, feasted at delightful cafes, made day trips to Tours for antiques-and relished the spectacular dishes that Haller created from the simplest ingredients. Best of all, they made many new friends-while sharing priceless moments with old ones...

Featuring dozens of delicious recipes, Vie de France is a delightful testament to the joy of good friends, good food, and reaching for your wildest, most wonderful dreams.

Haller and a group of friends rented a lovely home in Savonnieres a small town in the Loire Valley for a month. The beauty of the area, availability of fine fresh food and warmth of good companions inspired Haller to share the time he spent in the region.

In "Vie De France", Haller describes how he and his friends enjoyed their days, looking for antiques, exploring the marketplace and soaking up the atmosphere.

Haller is an award winning chef and author of several cookbooks. He loves to eat, cook and shop for food. He relishes food and this radiates throughout the book. In each chapter, he shares mouthwatering morsels of the food he feasted on. He describes dishes he made using fresh, local ingredients and dishes he enjoyed at casual cafes and fancy restaurants.

Haller walks you through the marketplace where he selects from four aisles of cheeses. You will pick from the freshest vegetables displayed like jewels. The butcher cuts your meat to order as you wait. In the patisserie the variety of breads, candies and pastries delight the eye. It's hard to decide between a "crusty round pain de compagnes" or a hearty wheat bread.

Back in the kitchen, Haller prepares tasty dishes using natural, healthy ingredients like creamy French butter, olive oil, herbes de Provence and garlic. The delicious recipes he makes are interspersed throughout the book. Recipes included range from the simple - french toast baguette with an apricot sauce to the more complex - turkey cutlets stuffed with a mushroom pilaf in a white wine and sorrel cream sauce. Other recipes included range from the common - grilled meat and a nice green salad to the more unusual - baked snails in butter, lemon and parsley.

The dining experience usually includes a fine red wine and a dessert. Desserts range from light to rich. A decadent creme caramel ends a simple soup and salad meal. Chocolate with hazelnuts tops a meal of sausage and red wine ragout. An apricot lavender tart completes a roast chicken stuffed with cassoulet. A table of menus at the beginning of the book makes finding the recipes easy.

In "Vie De France" Haller will create his moroccan olive salad or fresh tomatoes in basil dressing for your enjoyment. You will tour the countryside perhaps stopping for a glass of red wine at the local cafe. You may stop at the antique shop and find a special piece of pottery or pay a visit to the patisserie and pick up a fresh baked apple tart. You will savor the fresh food, beautiful views and good friends.

Lee Mellott


Enjoying friends and food in France   September 14, 2002
 1 out of 3 found this review helpful

Is it a book about travel? Is it a book about cooking? Yes, on both counts. James Haller's "Vie de France" tells of his experiences living in a rented house in a village in the Loire valley for a month with a group of friends. Like any good travel book, it leaves the reader with a strong impression of the countryside and the people, the culture and the atmosphere - with memories, as if you had spent that month there yourself. Better yet, the impression is of laughter, or at least smiles, and not tears. It also leaves you with memories of food prepared with care, even with love. Not classic French cooking, but Haller's personal style of cooking creatively yet simply. There is also the sense of adventure that comes from visiting a new place, with a foreign language, new towns and roads, restaurants that run on an offbeat schedule, and supermarkets that have a fascinating combination of the familiar and the strange. To emphasize the point that cooking is a major theme, the book has a table of menus, not a table of contents. Certainly a book about the joy of cooking, of travel, of friends, and of life.