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The Hundred-Foot Journey
A middle-aged chef, Hassan Haji, recounts his lifes journey, from his familys modest restaurant in Mumbai to his elegant restaurant in Paris where he has conquered the insular world of French haute cuisine. A tragedy at home in Mumbai pushes Hassans boisterous family into a picaresque journey across Europe, where they ultimately settle opposite a famous chef, Madam Mallory, in the remote French village of Lumiere. After a series of hilarious cultural mishaps, the grand French chef discovers 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 eccentric characters, vivid settings and delicious meals, Hassans charming tale lays bare the inner workings of the elite world of French haute cuisine. In the process, however, Hassan also discovers a truism that bedevils any man who has gone out into the world to make his mark-the true costs of rising to the top are only revealed later in life. About the Author Richard C. Morais is a senior editor at Forbes and chairs the Forbes Family Business Forum. An American raised in Switzerland, Morais has lived most of his life overseas, returning to the US in 2003. He was stationed in London for seventeen years, eventually becoming European Bureau Chief. His first book, an unauthorized biography of Pierre Cardin, was published to critical acclaim by UKs Bantam Press in 1991. The Hundred-Foot Journey is his first novel.