I got this book, The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard C. Morais, for Christmas. Kent asked his sister Brenda for a novel suggestion (not as in "new" but as in "fiction") and this is what she recommended. I have been reading various other things since Christmas, but I picked it up at the beginning of the week and finished it this morning as I rode my bike.
This is a great book. It is the story of an Indian boy, Hassan Haji, whose family is in the restaurant business in Mumbai. A tragedy at home pushes Hassan's family out of the Indian, across Europe, until they finally settle in a remote village in France in a house across the street from a famous restaurant run by a formidable woman chef. Quoting from the author's web site, "After a series of hilarious cultural mishaps, the grand French chef discovers, much to her horror, that the young boy cooking in the cheap Indian restaurant across the way is a chef with natural talents far superior to her own." She eventually takes him on as a pupil, and so begins his journey to culinary greatness.
The descriptions of food throughout the book are yummy. It made me hungry for Indian food, which I made on Monday, just to satisfy my cravings, hungry for French food, hungry for food. Morais does a fine job evoking a sense of place, capturing the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of a place. The characters are believable and likable and I found myself rooting for Hassan, the protagonist. I just liked this book and would highly recommend it.
But don't read it when you're hungry.
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