Customer Reviews

Memories of a Lost Egypt: A Memoir with Recipes

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you are like me, you enjoy reading cookbooks that are more than just compilations of recipes but also include evocative text that recreates another time and place. "Memories of a Lost Egypt" is such a book. The author's vivid and touching reminiscences of her childhood often center on food and her relationships with her family's cooks, and she skillfully interweaves her narrative with recipes for the delicious dishes she savored and learned to prepare.

Another Middle Eastern cookbook that I treasure is Sonia Uvezian's "Recipes and Remembrances from an Eastern Mediterranean Kitchen: A Culinary Journey through Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan." It too evokes a strong sense of time and place, and it is filled with outstanding recipes.

While I found the writing to be wonderfully evocative of a particular time and place, I couldn't overcome my annoyance with the author. I was consistently frustrated with the fact that she didn't seem to realize just how privileged her upbringing was. Unfortunately, I couldn't get past this initial impression. In the book's defense, however, the recipies were mouth-wateringly wonderful.

I found this book at a landmark bookstore on Picadilly Street in London, England. It was titled APRICOTS ON THE NILE, A Memoir With Recipes. I just realized via a search on Amazon that the title is different here in the USA. I like the English title better. This book is a 'must get' for anyone who cooks. There will be some recipes that sound "ugh", but many are mouth watering. Personally, I liked the Tomato Salad(s), Roast Chicken on a Bed of Leeks, Meatballs with Apricot Sauce, Angel Hair Pasta with Nuts, Vegetable Salad, Traditional Hummus, Christmas Four-Meat Pate, Lentil Soup, and Roast Leg of Lamb. The book is more than just recipes, though. You will be taken on a cultural trip through Cairo, Egypt and Paris, France through the eyes of a little girl & a woman who has not lost sight of her ancestral heritage. It's a quick and enjoyable read where you'll be thrust into memories of a wonderful childhood...try it, you'll like it. Smiles :)

I immensely enjoyed this book - my own family having lived in Alexandria during that time, it helped fill in many of the gaps in my own families story. Just as "Miriam's Kitchen" takes you into the life and traditions of an Askenazi family, this beautiful book conveys the feelings of family, food and tradition of Sephardic families masterfully. It is very easy to loose track of these bonds with family members now being scattered all over the world and this book is a gentle yet persuasive reminder that it is worth every bit of effort to keep our traditions alive so that our children will have strong roots and identities! The book only looses one star because I was a little disappointed with the recipes in the book since most of them are not kosher.

Rossant's depiction of her life in Egypt is so vivid that you become captivated by the place, the sights, and smells. It is best to read this with a bag of pistachios as your tummy rumbles over the unique middle eastern recipes! You will find comfort there along with the tale.

Being from New York I follow Mrs. Rossant's weekly column, in the Daily News. When I found out that she had written this book, I was very eager to buy it. After reading it, I was captivated by her description of her childhood, and all of those Great recipes. This book is a great find and I highly recommend it.

This book is not only charming but is beautifully written. I had tears in my eye as I read it. The recipes are mouth watering and I ran to buy some Egyptian ingredients to try the recipes. Colette Rossant gives an evocative picture of the life of a Jewish family during second world war.

This is a lovely little memoir with recipes. Colette Rossant is reminiscing about her childhood years growing up with her Jewish Egyptian grandparents in their mansion in Cairo during WWII. This poor little rich girl who was abandoned by her French mother, grew closer to the kitchen, and the cook Ahmed. Colette remembers many of the special recipes prepared by Ahmed and incorporates them into this nostalgic memoir of her childhood days. This is a lovely and sentimental memoir about the Egyptian belle epoque that also includes some savory Egyptian recipes with a gourmet twist.

I think that Rossant has a great gift for evocating her past. I felt that she really gave us an idea of what Egypt was like in the 40's. The recipes are excellent, I have already cooked from it.

I received the book as a gift for the 2007 Christmas. Rossant was able to skillfuly blend imagery, scents, and sounds into a portrait that rivals any treasured piece of modern art. Nonetheless, she couldn't help but overexpose her glamor. But why not? It's a glamorous picture, after all.

Perhaps it's my Egyptian background that led me to sense some "us versus them" sentiment in her writing as, for example, in the relative positions of French and Egyptian Nuns in the convent where she was boarded as a school-age child, or the marginal portrayal of "upper middle class" Egyptian families vacationing in Switzerland. Perhaps this is the reality of Europeans escaping WWII Europe, circumscribing to themselves as many of us do when living abroad. There is no denying her friendship and love for many Egyptians that crossed path with her. In the final analysis, it's a well-written account of times and places that we all wish we had witnessed.