Product Description

In 1937, five-year-old Colette Rossant arrived in Cairo from Paris with her Egyptian Jewish father and beautiful French mother. When her father dies Colette's flighty mother abandons the little girl to her wealthy grandparents. She soon settles into their luxuriant, food centred lifestyle - spending afternoons in the spice filled kitchen; accompanying her grandmother to the bazaar; and feasting on the delicious Egyptian food. At fifteen Colette is brought back to Paris with her mother, never to see her grandparents again, and only to return to Egypt thirty years later. In this charming, funny, and moving memoir, accompanied by mouth watering recipes, she evokes an Egypt lost, to her and to us, forever.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #29940 in Books
• Published on: 2002-02-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
The subtitle of the elegant Apricots on the Nile says it all: A Memoir with Recipes. Similar to other books with mouth-watering recipes embedded in the text, such Laura Esquivel's Like Water for Chocolate, this is a feast for the senses, a memoir pervaded with just the right amount of melancholy, like a finely judged pinch of salt, to bring out the flavour. Colette Rossant had the kind of enchanted childhood that most of us like to think we had, but didn't. In her case, this involved arriving, straight from Paris, in the greatest city in Africa, Cairo, at the tender and hugely impressionable age of five. Here she was to live with her Egyptian-Jewish father and her beautiful French mother. When her father died, she was then passed around amongst a veritable tribe of grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. This certainly suggests that her mother was stronger in hedonistic than maternal instincts--but all the same, it made for a magical and various childhood, with no two days the same. She remembers the jasmine vines growing over the garden wall, the purple and red bougainvillea in their clay pots, and the "stately mango tree". She remembers going with her grandfather to the Khan-al-Khalili market, and the names of the streets: "Gold Street, Copper Street, Silk and Cotton Streets, Carpet Street ... And most of all, of course, she remembers the food. Rossant has written no less than eight cook-books before, and this one is, among other things, her ninth. The recipes alone are enough to get the juices flowing: Fried Fish with Ground Almond-Anchovy Sauce; Soeur Leila's Red Lentil Stew; and the ones whose names you don't even understand: Babaghanou, Mulukhiyya and the intriguing Ful Medames. This is a book to savour slowly and enjoy to the full. --Christopher Hart

From the Publisher
A captivating account of a magical childhood
‘In this moving memoir, Rossant conjures up elegant houses, affluent lifestyles and vibrant cities from an epoch seen through the eyes of a confused but spirited child. The succulent recipes, from Ful Medames to lentil soup, are agreeably simple’ SUNDAY TIMES

‘A magical memoir of childhood years in Cairo … laced with delicious recipes … delightful’ CHOICE

‘Sumptuous … as tasty and honest a treat as home-made bread – make that a fresh semit from a Cairo bazaar. Enjoy!’ JEWISH QUARTERLY

‘Does for spicily perfumed Middle Eastern food what Laura Esquivel’s Like Water For Chocolate or Isabel Allende’s Aphrodite did for exotic food seasoned with luscious words … Rossant is a fine writer" SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY

‘Bittersweet, and evocative’ BIG ISSUE

About the Author
Colette Rossant is a James Beard nominated food writer and is a columnist for the DAILY NEWS. She lives in New York with her husband.

Customer Reviews

evocative, triste and charming
....small size (together with lovely cover and sewn-in book mark) is part of what makes the whole package so charming and covetable. Never having been to Egypt in 1940, or otherwise, I can't say whether a previous reviewer (who thinks the memories and recipes unauthentic) is right or not. But why would the author make it up? Certainly, her descriptions of her mother and grandparents are far too painfully drawn to be an invention. I've ordered 2 more copies to send to friends who share the misery of having an unsatisfactory mother.

I loved this intimate little book despite the contents being slight. And, although the (pretty standard) recipes are few and far between, they are no less authoritative than Claudia Roden's (or those of any other Middle Eastern food writer I've read) as well as being evocative and doable.

A treat for the discerning traveller and cook.
This is joyeous book, beautifully and honestly written. The recipes add a wonderful dimension to the writing, and many look as though they can be successfully replicated in the kitchen. Certainly a case of 'good things coming in small packages'.

An evocative look at life in1940s Cairo through food.
I heard Colette talking about her book on the radio and was totally captivated by the description of her life in Cairo and her love of Egyptian food during the 30's and 40's. Never has a book inspired me to travel to a destination so much as this one. Unfortunately the Cairo of Soda fountains, amazing mansions with gardens and cool country clubs has long since gone but what a beautifully evocative portrait this is. Plus it has recipes!