Memories of a Lost Egypt
A Memoir with Recipes
Description:... In this remarkable and touching memoir, French-born Colette Rossant recalls the lost Egypt of her childhood when she was abandoned by her flighty, widowed mother to be raised by her Egyptian grandparents in pre-World War II Cairo.
From the moment she arrived in Cairo escorted by her governess, Colette, then six, was engulfed in the midst of a tumultuous brood of self-absorbed relatives, all living together in a belle é poque mansion near the Nile. Memories of a Lost Egypt records the rituals of this wealthy family at the table, on the terrace, at weddings, through family crises, as they attempt to mold mischievous Colette to their exacting standards. To escape the intense pressure and pain of growing up a poor little rich girl in a grand house, Colette steals away to the kitchen to be with chef Ahmet, where she discovers the pleasures of Egyptian cuisine and the lives of the servants, their adventures in love, and their fortune-telling and superstitions.
Thus began Colette's relationship with both food and Egypt. Colette did more than cope. She created a self and a life that emerged triumphant. This book, her look back at it all, is another triumph.
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