SAVORING the OLDE WAYS SERIES: Searching for Family and Traditions at the French Table, Book One by Carole Bumpus – French Cooking with Food and Wine, Culinary Memoir and Biographies, Culinary Travel

The retired family therapist turned travel writer and culinary memoirist, Carole Bumpus shares the delicious first book in her new series, Savoring the Olde Ways: Searching for Family and Traditions at the French Table.

In this first book, Carole takes readers on an intimate food tour of the Champagne, Alsace, Lorraine, and Paris regions of France. After being introduced by a mutual friend, Carole builds a special friendship with Josiane and her mother. Wanting to understand what brings and keeps European families glued together through generations of happiness and hardship, Bumpus begins by interviewing Josiane’s mother. Hearing about traditions passed down and the challenges of cooking during the war, the plan for a culinary tour of France is born among the women. Unfortunately, after travel delays out of their control, Josiane’s mother passes away before they can make the trip. Determined to make a dream trip a reality, Carole and Josiane set off to start a journey of a lifetime in honor of the woman who inspired it all.

Savoring the Olde Ways: Searching for Family and Traditions at the French Table, takes readers along on an intimate view into the culinary lives of the people in Northeastern France.

Mouth-watering descriptions of food and heartwarming traditions tempt readers through every chapter, where history has had a powerful impact on both. Culture does not stop at borders. Bumpus encounters recipes from Italy and French recipes influenced by German cuisine. Following World War II, people from surrounding countries came to France in search of work and brought their traditional recipes with them. The Alsace and Lorraine regions of France went back and forth as being part of France and Germany. Carole and Josiane spend an evening with three generations of a family that experienced this flux of their nationality over the course of a century. Family and tradition helped to keep families strong during troublesome times in history.

The French have a reputation for being rude, but Carole finds everyone she meets to be nothing but warm and inviting.

Residents eagerly share their recipes, memories, and traditions with the visitors. Josiane brings Carole to the regions she and her family grew up in, and they take part in the long tradition of Sunday family dinner. Traditions like this may seem less common in modern culture, but still, very important to the families who keep it alive. The importance and similarity of the family traditions that Bumpus encounters show that we all aren’t that different.

Searching for Family and Traditions at the French Table won 1st Place in the 2019 CIBAs – Instruction & Insight Awards. 

Full of the warmth of family, mouthwatering food, and the importance of history, readers will relish this tome of culinary arts and a good home-cooked meal. The journey continues in Searching for Family and Traditions at the French Table: Book Two and Bumpus’s Italian adventure in September to Remember: Searching for Culinary Pleasures at the Italian Table.