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The Hundred-Foot Journey: A Novel

The Hundred-Foot Journey: A Novel

Current price: $17.00
Publication Date: August 9th, 2011
Publisher:
Scribner
ISBN:
9781439165652
Pages:
272
Usually Ships in 1 to 5 Days

From India to London to Lumiere - and then, ah, to Paree! - oh, what a great travel tale! And the people - I just loved them all. For foodies, it will be a delicious topping to a cake, and for travel buffs, Great fun to follow the adventures of a large Indian family. It's a delectable read - one to savor and enjoy.

Roberta Rubin, The Book Stall At Chestnut, Winnetka, IL
July 2010 Indie Next List

Description

Slumdog Millionaire meets Ratatouille” (The New York Times Book Review) in this “delicious fairytale-like read” (NPR) about family, nationality, and the mysteries of good taste.

Born above his grandfather’s modest restaurant in Mumbai, Hassan Haji first experienced life through intoxicating whiffs of spicy fish curry, trips to the local markets, and gourmet outings with his mother. But when tragedy pushes the family out of India, they console themselves by eating their way around the world, eventually settling in Lumière, a small village in the French Alps.

The boisterous Haji family takes Lumière by storm. They open an inexpensive Indian restaurant opposite an esteemed French relais—that of the famous chef Madame Mallory—and infuse the sleepy town with the spices of India, transforming the lives of its eccentric villagers and infuriating their celebrated neighbor. Only after Madame Mallory wages culinary war with the immigrant family, does she finally agree to mentor young Hassan, leading him to Paris, the launch of his own restaurant, and a slew of new adventures.

The Hundred-Foot Journey is about how the hundred-foot distance between a new Indian kitchen and a traditional French one can represent the gulf between different cultures and desires. A testament to the inevitability of destiny, this is a fable for the ages—charming, endearing, and compulsively readable.

About the Author

Richard C. Morais is the editor of Penta, a Barron’s website and quarterly magazine. An American raised in Switzerland, Morais has lived most of his life overseas, returning to the United States in 2003. He is the author of The Hundred-Foot Journey and Buddhaland Brooklyn. He lives in New York City.

Praise for The Hundred-Foot Journey: A Novel

“A completely engaging human story heavily larded with the lushest, most high-test food porn since Zola. Easily the best novel ever set in the world of cooking—and absolutely thrilling from beginning to end. I wished it went on for another three hundred pages.”
Anthony Bourdain

“Seeded with delightful arcana…Certain readers will want to skip ahead to the descriptions of food, as others do to sex scenes. The novel’s charm lies in its improbability: it’s Slumdog Millionaire meets Ratatouille.”
—New York Times Book Review

“[A] delicious, fairy-tale-like read…Well worth every step of the journey from the kitchens of India to the kitchens of France.”
—NPR

“Sumptuous…The Hundred-Foot Journey is not just about cooking, but about the clash of cultures—and how in the end, exceptional food bridges all barriers…I ate it all up in a matter of hours.”
Travel and Leisure

“I have never experienced that most subtle of senses—smell—captured so well in print. The aroma of fine cooking just floats off the pages…Don't read this book if you're hungry. You might eat it.”
Simon Beaufoy, Oscar Award-winning screenwriter of Slumdog Millionaire 

“A delicious culinary romp from the beaches of Bombay to the peaks of Paris Haute Cuisine. Very charming and a delight to savor.”
—Padma Lakshmi, New York Times bestselling author of Love, Loss, and What We Ate, editor of The Best American Travel Writing 2021, and former host of Top Chef
 
“A richly-woven tapestry of exotic sights, smells and tastes that transports the reader to a world of epicurean delights. This is a charming, deeply felt novel that questions, and ultimately celebrates, the twists and turns of an authentically lived life.” 
Elin Hilderbrand, New York Times bestselling author of Barefoot and The Five-Star Weekend

“[You’ll] find yourself mesmerized by the inventiveness of the story and the writer’s ability to cook up tantalizing aromas on paper.”
—The Philadelphia Inquirer

“A sumptuous story of a globe-trotting family and the means by which food nourishes both the body and the soul…The Hundred-Foot Journey is a buzzing banquet that will linger in your memory long after the last page is turned.”
—Bookpage

“This novel, of mythic proportions yet told with truly heartfelt realism, is a stunning tribute to the devotion of family and food. Bound to please anyone who has ever been happily coaxed to eat beyond the point of fullness, overwhelmed by the magnetism of ‘just one more bite.’”
—Booklist (Starred Review)

“Precise descriptive writing offers much to savor in this bouillabaisse of a first novel.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“[Morais] captures the dirt, passion, and madness of a chef’s life and spices it with one extra ingredient: he can really write…This is a novel in which every moment, every observation, speaks to the way food doesn’t merely nourish, but enchants.”
Eloisa James, author of Duchess by Night and When the Duke Returns

“A rich, imagery-filled culinary world…Regardless of one’s relationship with food, this novel will spark the desire to wield a whisk or maybe just a knife and fork.”
—Publishers Weekly

“A novel of remarkable insight and sensuality [that] captures the heat and rage of the kitchen. I stayed an hour late in my office Sunday night to finish the book, unable to stop before Hassan's dessert, savoring the bite of the author’s observations that emerge through his narrator.”
—Gael Greene, from former New York magazine restaurant critic and author of Insatiable

“A gorgeous novel, vivid and intimate, tracing a journey from kitchen to kitchen, from culture to culture, with a perfect touch.”
Susan Orlean, New York Times bestselling author of The Library Book

“A page-turner…Captures the extent to which nostalgia and imagination are a part of the craft of cooking, while vividly conjuring the sights and smells of the kitchen. In The Hundred-Foot Journey food isn’t just a theme, it’s a main character.”
Tom Colicchio, co-founder of Gramercy Tavern and head judge on Top Chef

“Has great charm…Colorfully written, sensual, and evocative.”
Joanne Harris, New York Times bestselling author of Five Quarters of the Orange and Chocolat

“Cooking and writing at a high level require great passion—exactly the kind of passion Richard Morais has poured into The Hundred-Foot Journey.”
Michael Ruhlman, author of Charcuterie and The Book of Cocktail Ratios