Joie de Vivre: Simple French Style for Everyday Living

Customer Reviews

Wonderful book will help you savor and enjoy !

The French are know for enjoying the good life. "Joie de Vivre" by Robert Arbor and Katherine Whiteside shares the traditions for stylish living the French way.

Arbor and Whiteside walk you through a typical French day. You begin with Le Matin (The Morning). You will learn the secret to great coffee, hot chocolate and making a breakfast tartine from French bread. In Le Dejeuner (Lunchtime) and Le Diner (Supper) you experience the pleasure of relaxing with friends over several courses of food. Each course is explained and some recipes are included.

To enjoy the finest foods the way the French do, Joie de Vivre takes you to the butcher, the market, and the baker where you learn to select the freshest cuts of meat and select amongst a variety of breads and cheeses. You also learn how to organize your kitchen so you have the tools and pantry items you need to create tasty dishes.

And there is so much more covered in this book. Why French butter tastes so good. The proper way to cut cheese. Notes on chocolate. Aperitif suggestions. The rewards of Le Potager (The Garden). Dinner party and picnic ideas and more! You get the feel and flavor of what makes the French way of life so pleasurable and how you can implement these ideas in your own life.

After reading the book, you may feel like you have spent a weekend in the French countryside! A wonderful read and resource.

My birthday present to myself

I don't know whether everything in this book is true. I've never been to France. However, I know that I want it to be true, because what Mr. Arbor has written is so incredibly beautiful and inviting. When he describes how the French approach life with more deliberation and less haste, I sighed. I want that for myself. I want intimate dinners of well cooked food with well chosen friends. I want to cook a few things well, and be able to linger at the table, comfortable in the knowledge that, though the fare may be simple, it is pleasurable. Life in our country can be incredibly stressful. Borrowing a few pages from Joie de Vivre can only enhance my life, and it really is a lovely read. Sigh, I love beautiful books.

A peek at the French lifestyle

I have been fortunate to visit France twice and was a guest in the home of a French lady who is a family friend. Joie de Vivre does a good job of describing the daily routine of the French and their attitudes toward food, family, friends, and enjoying life. I have never been as relaxed as I was when I was in France. Of course, I WAS on vacation, but it was still quite a relaxing experience. Things go at a slower pace than they do in the US and there is more enjoyment of simple things and simple times. Neighborhood grocers, patisseries, butcher shops, and bakeries, make it simpler to have fresh food every day. It also makes the experience of shopping for these items more enjoyable. We walked to the market, the bakery, etc. and it was wonderful. No zooming in the car to find a parking space. This book makes achieving the French lifestyle in the US sound like it would be simple. For those of us who don't live in cities with neighborhood shops, it is a great idea, but would take much more effort to achieve. Also, starting dinner at 8 p.m. sounds unreasonable. My daughter is bathed and in bed by this time and my husband and I are finishing dinner, cleaning the kitchen , and getting ready for a good night's sleep. The French do not watch much television which, I think, makes all the difference in how much extra time they have. They end their days later and start them later. It would be impossible for me to begin dinner at 8:30 p.m., go to bed at 11:30 p.m., get up at 6 a.m., get my daughter to school and myself to work by 8 a.m.

Joie de Vivre can inspire you to add elements of the French lifestyle to your own life.