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A Foodie's Dream Life
November 19, 2001
By Susan Houston
As Paris restaurant critic for the International Herald
Tribune, Patricia Wells has the job any foodie would
die for. When she's not dining at some of the world's
finest eateries, she's leading wine tours or teaching
cooking classes at her 18th-century farmhouse in northern
Provence. Along the way, she has managed to write several
books, including "At Home in Provence," winner
of the 1997 James Beard Award for Best European Cookbook,
and "The Food Lover's Guide to Paris," considered
the bible of dining in that city.
Not bad for a self-professed "cheesehead"
who grew up in Wisconsin.
Back then, Wells says she couldn't have picked out
France on a map. And even though she loved food, writing
about the topic wasn't yet considered "what the
French would call a profession noble."
So Wells got her master's degree in art criticism
at the University of Wisconsin and reviewed art for
The Washington Post from 1972 to 1976.
But the art critic had a dirty little secret. "I
found art criticism boring," she confesses. "I
was more interested in
making cassoulet at night when I got home."
In 1976, she left the Post to write about food for
The New York Times. Then her husband, who was on the
Times' national desk, was transferred to Paris. Wells
went with him and began to free-lance. She has been
the envy of foodies ever since.
Wells is promoting her new book, "The Paris Cookbook,"
on her current American tour, which includes a week
in North Carolina. But the visit isn't just about books.
She'll spend Thanksgiving with her mother, Vera Kleiber,
and sister, Judy Jones, who live in Raleigh.
Here's what Wells had to say when we caught up with
her in New York.
Q - How did you manage such a wonderful career?
A - I didn't apply for the job; I created it. It's
a lot of things, a passion and a curiosity, trying to
do the best job you
can every day. I'm doing what I've always been trained
to do.
Q - Are you able to visit restaurants anonymously?
A - I still am, and I'll tell you why. It's a big
place, with a lot of new restaurants, and I always reserve
under another
name. I just had an incident last Friday at a restaurant
in Paris where they were treating us like tourists and
putting us in the worst possible spot. So I thought,
"Read about it in the paper." Actually, I
prefer getting the tourist treatment to being fawned
over because that's more realistic for my readers.
Q - How would you describe your relationship with
the chefs of Paris?
A - Very amicable. A lot of them I have known for
over 20 years. Some we're almost exactly the same age,
like Joel Robuchon [Jamin] and Guy Savoy [Cap Vernet],
and we started our careers at exactly the same time.
It's been interesting to follow the changes.
Q - You have written what many consider the bible
to eating in Paris, "The Food Lover's Guide to
Paris." What are your top three dining tips for
Americans visiting Paris for the first time?
A - First of all, know what you like. Don't go to
a game restaurant if you don't like game. Don't go to
fish restaurant if
you don't like fish. Be selective. Be informed. That's
more than three, isn't it? And don't be afraid to experiment.
Q - You once said, "Americans eat every meal
as if it is their last."
A - "And the French know that there will be more
tomorrow." We [Americans] are still not a food
culture. We don't have the respect for food. We still
have a fear of food. When we sit down to eat, we have
too many negatives: no fat, can't have carbohydrates.
It's just no, can't, no, can't. We forget what pleasure
food can give us. It doesn't have to cost much and doesn't
have to be complicated. Just going to the market and
buying an apple can be a wonderful experience.
Q - Why do Americans have this bad experience with
food?
A - We're so far removed from where the apple grows
and where the apple is sold. Our only experience is
the plate to the mouth.
Q - The French linger over their meals more than we
do, don't they?
A - That's right. We do at my cooking classes, too.
Sometimes our meals can go three hours. I had one woman
tell me, "The only problem when I leave this class
is how to make a tuna fish sandwich into a three-hour
lunch."
Q - I suppose she could go catch the tuna first. What
dining trends are you observing in France now?
A - It's more about the ingredients than the chef
now. It used to be, "What is Andre's newest creation?"
But now the menu might be potatoes cooked three different
ways, so it's more, "Look what he's doing with
potatoes."
Q - What foods do you miss most from America?
A - Corn on the cob, fresh crab meat and really good
cottage cheese. The French have fromage blanc, which
is almost as good.
Q - What foods do you miss most from France?
A - Great cheese. I'm from Wisconsin, so once a cheesehead,
always a cheesehead.
Q - What is it like being the only American woman
to write restaurant reviews for a French publication,
L'Express?
A - At first I thought, "Oh, my God, how I am
going to write for the French?" But it's not like
I have 13 different writing
styles. So I just wrote the way I always write and had
it translated into French."
Q - You don't write in French?
A - No, I can barely write a note to the concierge
to tell him I'm going out. But I'm fluent in the spoken
language. I've been on French TV, with my American [she
flattens her voice on purpose] accent.
Q - What restaurants do you plan to visit while you're
here?
A - Margaux's is one. I've really had some lovely
meals there, and they have a lovely wine list. I'll
also just be eating at
home. My mother and my sister are both really good cooks.
Q - They're not afraid to cook for a restaurant critic?
A - I'm not a restaurant critic to them. I'm just
their daughter and their sister.
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