French American author Samantha Vérant delivers perfectly seasoned fiction that combines her passions in life - France, food and love. And her latest book, The Spice Master at Bistro Exotique, set in Paris, is a romantic and culinary delight.
Hi there. I'm your host, Jenny Wheeler, and in Binge Reading this week, Samantha talks about moving to France and marrying a sexy French rocket scientist she met in 1989, but ignored for 20 years, and writing about that adventure in bestselling memoirs and three entertaining romcoms accompanied by lots of mouth-watering recipes.
As usual, we've got some great giveaways - details for those and all of Samantha's contact details - she's happy to answer book club questions if you're interested - in the show notes for this episode on the website, thejoysofbingereading.com.
And remember, if you like the show, do recommend us to other people. Leave us a review so others will hear about the show too. There's nothing better than word of mouth recommendations,
This week's Giveaway
Ten free copies of Poisoned Legacy in Audio to give away to ten lucky readers/listeners
FREE OFFER LIMITED TO FIRST TEN LISTENERS
If audio is your first choice for reading these days, jump in and enjoy a "First" - Book #1 In Of Gold & Blood in Audio, free to download from Bookfunnel
This is a new feature in Bookfunnel and the first time I have used it.
go to poisoned legacy audio book link
If you are one of the lucky winners, then give us your feedback when you've listened - we'd love to hear what you think..
Your feedback at jenny@jennywheeler.biz
And here is the link again in case the button isn't working properly
https://dl.bookfunnel.com/hb6gjajdcf
Links to topics discussed in the show
Michelin Stars: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelin_Guide
Dominque Crenn” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominique_Crenn
Her restaurant - Atelier Crenn: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atelier_Crenn
Gabrielle Hamilton: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabrielle_Hamilton_(chef)
The Secret French Recipes of Sophie Valroux; http://www.samanthaverant.com/2020/01/the-secret-french-recipes-of-sophie.html
Sophie Valroux's Paris Stars: http://www.samanthaverant.com/p/sophie-valrouxs-paris-stars.htmlie
Seven Letters From Paris: http://www.samanthaverant.com/2020/01/seven-letters-from-paris.html
How To Make A French Family: http://www.samanthaverant.com/2020/01/how-to-make-french-family.html
Charles’s Coconut Ice Cream Recipes Link http://www.samanthaverant.com/2022/12/happy-holidays-and-easy-recipe-from.html
Marcel Proust and the Madeleine Effect: https://www.penguin.co.uk/articles/2020/07/more-than-cake-unravelling-the-mysteries-of-proust-s-madeleine
Remembrance Of Things Past Marcel Proust: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Search_of_Lost_Time
Recipes for Wild boar and Pot Au Feu De La Mer:
http://www.gourmetfly.com/Cookingwildboar.html
https://www-lespommesdeterre-com.translate.goog/recette/pot-au-feu-de-la-mer/?_x_tr_sl=fr&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc
Matt Haig The Midnight Library: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52578297-the-midnight-library
Forever Hold Your Peace: Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/721248/forever-hold-your-peace-by-liz-fenton-and-lisa-steinke/
A Man Called Ove, Frederik Backman: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18774964-a-man-called-ove
Charlotte’s Web, E. B. Wright: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte%27s_Web
Phylloxera: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phylloxera
The Secret Garden Frances Hodgson Burnett https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_Garden
Roald Dahl: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roald_Dahl
The Lion the Witch and The Wardrobe, C S Lewis:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lion,_the_Witch_and_the_Wardrobe
Namratha Prasant: https://www.forbes.com/sites/tmullen/2020/07/13/how-this-woman-from-india-created-a-french-wine-label/?sh=12610f5a74c5
Where to find Samantha Vérant Online
Website: http://www.samanthaverant.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorSamanthaVerant
Instagram: @authorsamanthaverant
Email: slverant@gmail.com
But now here's our show.
Introducing author Samantha Verant
Author Samantha Vérant on The Joys of Binge Reading podcast
Jenny Wheeler: Hello there, Samantha, and welcome to the show. It's great to have you with us.
Samantha Vérant: Hi Jenny. Thanks for having me. I'm here in France, in southwestern France, and you're way over there in New Zealand.
Jenny Wheeler: That's right, and we've got to be honest, this is our second attempt at this.
We had a disastrous attempt a couple of nights ago where for some reason we got a double recording of our voices. So this time it's going to be trouble free.
We're talking today about your latest book, The Spice Master at Bistro Exotique, your most recent fiction.
It's a fantastic story of a French American chef in Paris, setting up a new restaurant, but all of your books show passion for two things, France and food, and I wondered which came first?
Samantha Vérant: Well, honestly, food came first. When I was nine years old, I was ripping out recipes from Bon Appetite and Gourmet Magazine.
And I think my pièce de résistance came when I was eleven and I made a 20 pound Sundae Pie with chocolate leaves for decoration.
I molded them from actual leaves. It's a big joke in my family because my father was like, ‘this pie weighs so much,’ but I've always been drawn to the kitchen and cooking.
And then when I moved to France! Hello French recipes.
Jenny Wheeler: That sounds gorgeous. Now the fiction that you've written, the heroines, are all female chefs.
You write about food and love, but it's not as if they just fall into men's arms. You give them very strong individual stories. They're following their dreams, and in the case of all of your heroines so far, they're chasing after Michelin stars.
Talk a bit about the Michelin star’s status in the food industry and why it's so important for women to get them.
Women and Michelin stars...
Samantha Vérant: Well, it's really important because they've been sideswiped by Michelin, and you'll find many men have the stars and it's a very competitive, arena for women to fight for. But there are more and more women coming out that, are starred or making their mark in the culinary world.
So it's really important to get rid of the misogyny in the kitchen and move forward with that.
Jenny Wheeler: Who was the first woman to get a Michelin star?
Samantha Vérant: Ooh, the first woman? Ooh, good question. I'm not sure, but I know chefs like Dominique Crenn. She recently received a star, and she is a wonderful chef. She's in San Francisco, she's French.
Jenny Wheeler: Has she got her own restaurant?
Samantha Vérant : Yeah, it's Atelier Crenn and she's a very go-for-the-gusto kind of chef. Then there's Gabrielle Hamilton, and she's really well known. Little by little women are getting known as female chefs - and they should just be called chefs - they are making their mark, so that's awesome.
Jenny Wheeler: Yes, I noticed that in Bistro Exotique, you make a point of giving your heroine, the title Chef, and I gather sometimes it's difficult for women to get the respect of being called Chef in the kitchen, although it's readily given to men. Do I understand that right?
Just call her 'Chef' if she's the boss
Samantha Vérant I think any leader in a kitchen, they should be called Chef. ‘Yes, chef. Oui chef.’
It is a sign of respect. She had interns in the kitchen and they looked to the male lead in the book. They were calling him Chef and he said, no, that title's reserved for Sophie.
And that was a major sign of his respect for her.
Jenny Wheeler: Yes. That was a great moment in the book, actually. You have two fiction books before this, and two books of memoir.
We’ll talk about the memoir a little later because that was where you first started, but the first faction was. The Secret French Recipes of Sophie Valroux That was her first one, and then Sophie Valroux’s Paris Stars was the second.
They were, as you would imagine, the same heroine in a continuing story. Sophie begins with a disastrous experience in a New York restaurant, partly set up by this misogyny that you've been referring to, and she believes that her cooking career is over, so she escapes to France. Tell us a bit about the background for those stories.
Samantha Vérant: The background for The Secret French Recipes of Sophie Valroux?
Initially I really wanted to write a book that takes place in the area that I live in, which is southwestern France. So the area it takes place in is about an hour away from my home. And the misogyny in the kitchen and there's always an American, because I'm American who is moving or working, or living in France in my books because it's something I very much relate to.
The Secret French Recipes of Sophie Valroux
So the brief synopsis is she is set up by an ex-boyfriend.
She's actually a sous chef at a New York restaurant, and she is blamed for the loss of a Michelin star, which is devastating in the world. She didn't do it.
Her grandmother has a chateau in Southwestern France, and Sophie arrives to France to lick her wounds and to have a new start in life but what she's not expecting is the Chateau has two restaurants and she's expected to lead one of them, after her terrible downfall.
So the story is about her getting her morale back together. She is whiny and cringey in the beginning, but little by little after having such a failure and feeling devastated.
She finds her heart and her way back into the kitchen, mainly through her grandmother's recipes.
Jenny Wheeler: Yes. And even in Bistro Exotique you talk about the gaining of self-confidence as well as love through her work.
