INTRODUCTION

Writing a book dedicated to my love for food, beautiful tables, pictures and, most of all, memories was on a par with the excitement of whisking together my first mayonnaise at school and feeling the incredible satisfaction of something coming together with every dedicated effort put into it.

So many things we make on a daily basis have a French connection … Little did I know that these techniques, methods and ingredients would one day take me on a journey far away to where they all originated.

I have always been open-minded to try new and exotic dishes and ingredients. From sun-dried mopani worms under cabbage trees on our farm in South Africa to frogs’ legs delicately pan-seared with parsley and garlic butter under gold-painted ceilings in Paris.

My French affair started when I got hold of an in-flight magazine from Air France when my parents returned from an all-expenses-paid trip to Europe. I read the magazine from front to back, memorising French words and then repeating them countless times in front of our Friesian cows, while they were chewing away on the early-morning, dew-drenched grass. I had to milk the cows in order to get pocket money, which would eventually go into my savings for flights to the Cape. Even at this early age, it was already part of the route that would eventually take me to France – country of cheese, wine and perfume.

My incredible hunger to explore as a child resulted in a journey of time, place and people who inspired me and showed me the possibilities of dreams becoming a reality and whipped cream becoming butter.

The French Affair: Tables of Love is not only about a hunger for food, but life, experiences, places and all things beautiful.