The Hundred-Foot Journey

by Richard C. Morais

Overview

Soon to be a major motion picture starring Helen Mirren and Om Puri, directed by Lasse Hallstrom, and produced by Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, Juliet Blake, DreamWorks Studios, and Participant Media.

“That skinny Indian teenager has that mysterious something that comes along once a generation. He is one of those rare chefs who is simply born. He is an artist.”

And so begins the rise of Hassan Haji, the unlikely gourmand who recounts his life’s journey in Richard Morais’s charming novel, The Hundred-Foot Journey. Lively and brimming with the colors, flavors, and scents of the kitchen, The Hundred-Foot Journey is a succulent treat about family, nationality, and the mysteries of good taste.

Born above his grandfather’s modest restaurant in Mumbai, Hassan first experienced life through intoxicating whiffs of spicy fish curry, trips to the local markets, and gourmet outings with his mother. But when tragedy pushes the family out of India, they console themselves by eating their way around the world, eventually settling in Lumière, a small village in the French Alps.

The boisterous Haji family takes Lumière by storm. They open an inexpensive Indian restaurant opposite an esteemed French relais—that of the famous chef Madame Mallory—and infuse the sleepy town with the spices of India, transforming the lives of its eccentric villagers and infuriating their celebrated neighbor. Only after Madame Mallory wages culinary war with the immigrant family, does she finally agree to mentor young Hassan, leading him to Paris, the launch of his own restaurant, and a slew of new adventures.

The Hundred-Foot Journey is about how the hundred-foot distance between a new Indian kitchen and a traditional French one can represent the gulf between different cultures and desires. A testament to the inevitability of destiny, this is a fable for the ages—charming, endearing, and compulsively readable.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781439165669
Publisher:	Scribner
Publication date:	07/06/2010
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	70,688
Lexile:	1190L (what's this?)
File size:	6 MB

About the Author

Richard C. Morais is the editor of Penta, a Barron’s website and quarterly magazine. An American raised in Switzerland, Morais has lived most of his life overseas, returning to the United States in 2003. He is the author of The Hundred-Foot Journey and Buddhaland Brooklyn. He lives in New York City.

Editorial Reviews

Serious foodies will swoon. Morais throws himself into the kind of descriptive writing that makes reading a gastronomic event.

Washington Post Book Review

The novel’s charm lies in its improbability: it’s ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ meets ‘Ratatouille.’

New York Times Book Review

"The Hundred-Foot Journey has great charm and is colorfully written, sensual and evocative.

author of Chocolat - Joanne Harris

"A delicious fairy-tale-like read."

NPR.org

Hassan Haji’s tone of voice is something of a masterpiece, cosmopolitan but not entirely European either. And the quest for the Michelin stars is a real cliff-hanger. For anyone who loves food, and who cares for character, the book’s a banquet. Lovely stuff. What a superb Merchant Ivory Production movie it would have made.”

–Simon Callow, actor (Four Weddings And A Funeral) and author ofOrson Welles: The Road To Xanadu.

"This novel, of mythic proportions yet told with truly heartfelt realism, is a stunning tribute to the devotion of family and food. Bound to please anyone who has ever been happily coaxed to eat beyond the point of fullness, overwhelmed by the magnetism of 'just one more bite.'"

—Booklist (Starred Review)

From the Publisher

Outstanding! Easily the best novel ever set in the world of cooking.

Anthony Bourdain

This novel, of mythic proportions yet told with truly heartfelt realism, is a stunning tribute to the devotion of family and food, in that order.

Booklist