Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #43558 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

Synopsis
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.

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

Customer Reviews

Mouthwatering!
Yet another 'foodie' book that I found hard to put down! Colette Rossant tells her life story from her early childhood through to adulthood - she describes in detail her complicated family and her relationships with her parents and both sets of grandparents along with various other eccentric aunts and distant siblings.

She paints a vivid picture of life in different countries; Egypt, France and America and also her time spent in a convent whilst in France with her mother. Throughout the book, her love of food and the descriptions of the feasts the family enjoyed (especially in Egypt) are mouth-watering. Recipes are dotted all through the book aswell - so those of us adventurous enough can try them out.

A real joy to read, only a short book but it's really honestly written and very enjoyable. Her tales continue in her next book; 'Return To Paris' which I will look forward to reading.

This Exquisite Memoir
Colette Rossant's glittering childhood memoir of her French extended family life in Cairo, is one of those stories this reader did not want to put down or to finish. Utterly compelling, her memoir is a feast of family characters and recipes. Her wealthy family lived in the spacious Villa Palacci in Cairo's Garden City. "A neighbourhood of winding streets, with immense villas and lush gardens, designed for the nineteenth century well -to-do Egyptian and European Jewish merchants and foreign ambassadors." Even as a small child, Rossant loved being in the kitchen with her Grandmaman Marguerite. Who sings in Arabic when kneading dough, and their cook Ahmet with whom Grandmaman shares power in the kitchen. The colours and flavours of the fruits, vegetables and spices, and the delicious cuisine emerging from the family kitchen, evoke an era when cooking and fine dining was an art in the home. Rossant doesn't miss a single beautiful or poignant beat, when packing her childhood saga into this exquisite slim volume.

...a journey to the Nile...
What a delightful book! I love cooking books that share and impassion you to try and discover new countries, new tastes, new cultures. Her recipes are delightful, perhaps they take a while, but that's the whole point of this - to enjoy the making as much as to enjoy the tasting. As the world moves on faster and faster, these kind of books really keep a tradition going within families.
The food is tasty and as long as you can get some of the ingredients, a delight to make and absolutely gorgeous to eat!