THE FRENCH INGREDIENT

A Midwestern “meat-and-potatoes-eating gal” chronicles how she opened a successful cooking school in Paris.

Bertch has lived and worked in Europe for two decades, and in 2009, she founded Le Cuisine Paris, now “the largest nonprofessional culinary school in France.” In her first book, the author offers valuable, often hilarious nuggets of lived wisdom—and not just in terms of cooking. Originally from Chicago, Bertch targeted finance as the way to a wider world, first working in London before being transferred to Paris as a “relationship banker” in the early 2000s. The author recounts how, early on during her time in France, she was lonely, spoke little French, and was shunned by most of her older colleagues. Eventually, she realized that everything in the city is “coded…from its professional trajecto­ries to its wardrobe,” and she had to learn the ropes the hard way, via faux pas. She began to understand that most people focus on one thing and disdain being “well-rounded,” and relationships develop slowly through trust and referral. “They wanted to put me in a box, but I didn’t fit in a box,” writes Bertch. “Instead, with my red hair, American accent, and audacious ideas, they considered me a circus animal.” Dissatisfied, the author quit her job and started a cooking school with her then-boyfriend, Olivier, who helped open doors for her. They were unable to “seduce” the concierge of the building, who considered the school a “nuisance,” so they found a new space in the fashionable Marais on the Quai de l’Hôtel de Ville, with its promising busy foot traffic. Despite numerous obstacles, including the terrorist attack on the Bataclan concert venue, the fire in Notre Dame, and the pandemic, Le Cuisine Paris has become a highly successful business.

An inspiring story that will appeal to foodies and budding entrepreneurs alike.