The Hundred-Foot Journey
By RICHARD C MORAIS
A lowly Indian chef rises to the heights of French haute cuisine
Middle-aged chef Hassan Haji recounts his life’s journey, from his family’s modest restaurant in Mumbai to his elegant Parisian restaurant where he has conquered the insular world of French haute cuisine. A tragedy at home in Mumbai pushes Hassan’s boisterous family into a picaresque journey across Europe, where they ultimately settle opposite a famous chef, Madam Mallory, in the remote French village of Lumière. After a series of hilarious cultural mishaps, the grand French chef discovers, much to her horror, that the young boy cooking in the cheap Indian restaurant across the way is a chef with natural talents far superior to her own. A culinary war ensues, full of plot twists, pitting Hassan’s Mumbai-toughened father against the imperious Madam Mallory, a battle royale that finally reveals to young Hassan his true destiny in life.
The Hundred-Foot Journey is an international and New York Times bestseller that has sold in 35 territories worldwide. In 2014, Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey and Juliet Blake released The Hundred-Foot Journey film directed by Lasse Hallström and starring Helen Mirren and Om Puri.
The editorial board of The New York Times Book Review made The Hundred-Foot Journey novel an “Editors’ Choice” and placed it on “Paperback Row” before it became a New York Times best seller.
Picked as a “Literary Destination” by National Public Radio, one of five books to escape by.
Picked as a “favorite summer read” of 2010 by O, The Oprah Magazine.
Picked by Amazon:Kindle editors as one of the 10 best books of June.
Picked as an “Indie Next Great Reads” for July, by the American Booksellers Association.
Recipient of a “starred” review by the American Library Association’s BookList.
Picked as a Book Of The Month Club “alternate selection” for release January, 2011.
“Outstanding! A completely engaging human story heavily larded with the lushest, most high-test food porn since Zola. Easily the best novel ever set in the world of cooking –and absolutely thrilling from beginning to end. I wished it went on for another three hundred pages.”
— Anthony Bourdain, author of Kitchen Confidential
“Morais, formerly a senior editor and foreign correspondent at Forbes, has done his research. The novel is seeded with delightful arcana, like a recipe for rat from an old edition of Larousse Gastronimique, which advises using a specimen found in a wine cellar (‘so much more flavorful.’) The novel’s charm lies in its improbability: it’s ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ meets ‘Ratatouille.'”
— The New York Times (Editor’s Pick)
“A gorgeous novel, vivid and intimate, tracing a journey from kitchen to kitchen, from culture to culture, with a perfect touch.”
— Susan Orlean, author of The Orchid Thief