Dinner Chez Moi: 50 French Secrets to Joyful Eating and Entertaining

Bard’s inspiring cookbook explains how to cultivate French-style eating habits that encourage healthy thinness along with essential joie de vivre. Bard (Lunch in Paris), raised in an American home where processed cheese and bottled salad dressing were staples, has the enthusiastic zeal of a convert to her French husband’s ways. The true secret of her 50 secrets is really a willingness to apply self-discipline to ingredients, equipment, rituals, and family—the categories into which she’s divided her hints. Olive oil is number one, and hardly revelatory; wine and dark chocolate are equally unsurprising, though her advice to combine a square of the latter with herbal tisane to hydrate and curb appetite is hard-core insider knowledge. The ingredient-specific recipes are solid, authentic French home cooking, introduced with stories of discovery: one taste of her mother-in-law’s mayonnaise transformed her from mayo hater to firm advocate. How food is consumed is as important as the meal content. Sitting down to eat together and not snacking through the day are approachable goals; conquering American portion sizes will be the real French revolution. (Apr.)