Richard C Morais
Alma Books
ISBN:978-1-84688-133-6
Simon Callow described this as being for anyone who loves food, and cares for character. He’s right on both counts. Morais’ stories tend to be heavily populated but he manages to give each face in the crowd depth of character and degrees of back-story, without dragging down the pace of his narrative.
His delving into food is also deeply believable, and so enjoyable that often I felt that I had in fact been eating quite a lot. While giving us these gorgeous word pictures he manages to colour-in the cultures they come out of. And he is convincing at giving himself the voice of his protagonist, which immediately strips away a layer of distance from the action.
He has done his research, but doesn’t wear it on his sleeve. Instead we can feel we are reading between the lines when we pick on several tricks of advanced cookery. This is no doubt the time history will remember for popular obsession with food and cookery, both on the airwaves and on paper, but this book rises above the genre.
Coinciding with the paperback publication of this, the film (starring Helen Mirren and Om Puri, director Lasse Hallstrom) is due for release. To see the trailer, click here: http://collider.com/the-one-hundred-foot-journey-trailer/
