A disclaimer: If you are hoping to find a positive review of this book, you may want to stop reading right now. I really did not like this book at all, for many reasons, and I always blog with honesty about films and books. Many many people have praised this book, and this review is entirely my own opinion! Please understand that I have no criticism of France or French people – my problems are entirely with this book and the author.
The book is part memoir, part diet advice. The writer, talks about how France does not have the obesity problem which the US – and increasingly the UK – has. She attributes this to the French attitude to food and eating, and suggests how everyone can adopt the same attitude, and in so doing, maintain a healthy weight without depriving themselves of the food they love. Sounds great? Well yes, but I have a few problems with this book.
First, the author (correctly) starts off criticising crash diets, pointing out that they rarely work long term, and can lead to a cycle of bingeing/dieting. While this is absolutely correct, she then goes on to suggest that the eating plan laid out in this book should start with a weekend of eating nothing but leek soup – made with leeks and water. In other words – a crash diet! Not only is this unhealthy, but it is also possibly the first step on a binge/diet cycle, which is the very thing that people should be avoiding! (She also speaks with delight of how she lost weight after several days of eating just yoghurt and a peach for lunch – this is hardly a varied diet, and should not be advocated.)
Second, while the book contains many recipes, some of which admittedly do sound lovely, there is nothing here that you won’t find in other decent cookbooks. At one point, the author suggests piling salad leaves on a plate, adding tomatoes and crumbly cheese. In other words – make a salad. This is hardly radical or new advice. The author also constantly mentions alcohol, to the point where I actually wondered if she had a drink problem. It seems that she does not consider a meal worth having if there’s not champagne or wine involved. There is in fact a whole section dedicated to champagne, and the author seems to practically worship the drink. (She is the CEO of a champagne producing company, which also made me think that she might have her own agenda in such blatant promotion of the fizzy stuff.)
Third, while the author is married to an American man and actually lives in America, I found her attitude to the USA (and to a lesser extent the UK), to be very condescending. The message seems to be – America is backward and silly, and France is brilliant and better in every respect. She described how she visited a friend who was in hospital in America, and took a bottle of champagne as a gift, only to be told by the nurse that she couldn’t take the champagne in. The author seemed utterly aghast at this, and compares it unfavourably with what she calls the French attitude (and which I suspect is really just her own attitude). She is absolutely correct that there is an obesity problem in America, and Britain looks to be heading the same way. I have no issue with her pointing this out, and suggesting the possible cause of the problem. But her constant criticism of American attitudes, American lifestyle -in fact anything American – did get wearing after a while.
Additionally, the dietary advice provided is somewhat obvious – eat more good stuff, eat less junk, and exercise. Hardly news for anyone hoping to lose weight. What the book fails to do is address the psychological reasons that people gain weight. She is correct that people should not expect to have to give up simple pleasures like good chocolate or the odd dessert, but the problem is not that people don’t know that such things should only be an occasional treat – the problem is how to get your head around the issue.
Finally – while it is obvious that the author had a very privileged upbringing, and still has plenty of money to spend on the very best quality fruit and vegetables – she seems to forget that most of the advice she gives is just not reasonable for people living on an average salary. While she can hardly wait to tell the reader that she eats at restaurants 300 days or nights per year, she also regularly mentions how people should spend more to get the best quality. This may well be true, but for many people, the things she suggets are just not realistic. In the aforementioned section devoted to champagne, Guiliano recommends buying a particular brand (surely not coincidence that it’s made by the company she works for) and using it to cook with and drink with the meal – this is just not practical for most people, and not affordable either.
There was one part of the book I enjoyed – in the chapter about chocolate, the author discusses the history of chocolate, and how it became the food we all know it as today. She also says that rather than eating the cheap chocolate which is so widely available today, people should have the best quality chocolate, but only in small amounts (which I tend to agree with). This particular section was interesting, but sadly not nearly good enough to make up for the rest of the book.
I was very disappointed with this book, especially as I had been looking forward to reading it. I did not and do not need or wish to lose weight, but I had a very uneasy love/hate relationship with food in my teens, some of which occasionally crops up to this day – and I had hoped to find at least some insight into the psychological causes of such relationships with food. Unfortunately, I did not find this at all. I’d love to be able to recommend this book, but unfortunately simply cannot do so.
Between the Pages 
I have her second book, “French Women for All Seasons,” which was pretty good (better, I assume, than “French Women Don’t Get Fat,” which I also picked up from the a thrift store, but have yet to read). She still goes on about the weekend “leek soup” fast, which is in line with the popular theory of “cleansing,” but she also talks more about the French attitude toward excellence when it comes to food. My favorite little tale is when she tells of going to a business meeting around the holidays and a large tray of scrumptious-looking chocolate truffles is passed around with coffee. She takes one, takes a bite, and discovers that the truffles are really not very high-quality and not very good, so she leaves her half-eaten truffle on her saucer and keeps passing the tray to others, who keep eating more truffles as the tray is passed.
I think this was probably what she was trying to get across in her first book. I’ve noticed this about myself. I recently had a Boston cream donut (I love Boston cream anything), but the donut was greasy, the vanilla cream filling was basically cheap vanilla pudding, and the chocolate topping tasted cheap. I still finished the donut (hey, I’m American), but it was a long time again before I was tempted by them in the grocery store.
I agree that she doesn’t seem to understand American attitudes toward food (which in my mind have to do with our historical obsession with social climbing), but I appreciate the French tradition of embracing peasant food in addition to haute cuisine.
But yeah, maybe it’s American egalitarianism and pride, but I chafed a little at her glorification of all things French as well. Although in the second book, she even deigns to admit that the French are starting to get fat, too, which she attributes to in-between-meal snacking, the increased speed and decreased ritual of meals, and eating places other than at home or in restaurants (eg. cars, the office, while walking down the street, etc.).
Hi, thanks for the info, and your very insightful comments – the second book sounds like it’s probably a better read than the first one! I was a bit worried that my review might upset people, but I could only say what I thought. I know a lot of people loved this book, but it just wans’t for me I’m afraid.
I’m a sucker for ‘books about food’ (in some ways I prefer them to straight ‘recipe books’) – I also love French food and approve wholeheartedly of their passionate attitude to quality in food (and drink! ).
But I had a look at this book a while ago and, despite pushing all the right buttons, it just didn’t cut it for me. The writing doesn’t flow, it’s very inconsistent in tone and focus, and,as you say, the ‘french superiority complex’ gets a bit wearing after even a brief skim.
Thanks for the detailed review – it’s removed a nagging “I wonder if my first impression was wrong and I should buy it anyway” feeling.
I’ll remember the using “Champagne to cook with” advice, should I win the lottery
I too like books about food, and also people’s relationships with it. I just hated the condescending attitude of the author. In the interests of fairness, I should say that it has had many positive reviews, but it definitely wasn’t for me!