in conversation with PTEE director Terrance Gelenter

Just like Hemingway, Fitzgerald and Lewis, expatriates during Les Années Folles, Harriet Welty Rochefort, author of “French Toast” and “French Fried” comes from a small town in the Midwest-Shenandoah, IA. Unlike them she stayed.

I usually try to link my interviews to an upcoming book or film but after lunching with Harriet whose most recent book, “French Fried” was published in 2001, I felt a responsibility to acquaint you with this charming woman even though no new book is on the horizon.

I hopped onto the #3 Metro line at L’ODEON and exited at GAMBETTA in the heart of the 20th arrondissement. As I emerged onto the Place Gambetta I made an erroneous right turn and found myself in the midst of 1950’s Brooklyn- a collection of small clothing shops, butchers, fishmongers, fruit vendors- only instead of Yiddish, Italian, Spanish and English I heard French and Arabic.

A quick about face and a short walk brought me to Harriet’s mini-rise “fifties” apartment building-an effort at postwar city planning. After a relaxing orange juice in the garden we walked to the corner for our conversation and a classic lunch at La Fontaine, a neighborhood bistro.

TG: When did you first come to Paris?

HWR: I first came to Paris in 1967 with a college roommate when I was at the University of Michigan. It was just a summer vacation and I fell in love with it.

TG: Why did you choose Paris?

HWR: We wanted to do all the classic things-Italy, France. We flew to Paris and found a little place in the Quartier Latin and it was just wonderful. I felt like I had stepped into a Toulouse-Lautrec painting. And the other thing was that my step-grandmother, Blanche Shweitzer, had taught French at Grinnell College (Iowa) and had lived in France. She taught me words in French. My little pink toy pig was a “cochon”; a fork was a “fourchette.” .

TG: Apart from the romantic sense of being in Paris, were there one or two things that impressed you and have stayed with you?

HWR: Oh yes, I think so but can I backtrack here for a moment? There was one other influence on me; a French war bride who lived in our town (Shenandoah, Iowa.) Micheline brought over her parents from Le Havre because they had nothing left-the town had been destroyed. So there they are in the middle of nowhere in Shenandoah, Iowa of all places and they started a restaurant. I was just a little girl and I’d go to the restaurant with my family and it was a totally different ambiance. It was like in France-red-checkered tablecloths, beautiful antiques from Normandy. It was a big influence on me so I already had these ideas about France-very big, very positive ideas.

I’ve been here for over thirty years and every time I walk down the street I say to myself that I’m in such an aesthetic environment, it’s so beautiful And I still stop in wonder as if it were the first time. So I think to answer your question it’s the beauty and the French attention to aesthetics that we don’t see in our society because we Americans are much more geared to productivity and work.

TG: We don’t take the time to appreciate it.

HWR: That’s the other thing. Just taking the time to appreciate life. I was on a cruise recently with my college roommate-the same one I came to Paris with and everyone wanted to know what it was like to live in Paris. I described a typical day and they were floored. “How can you spend so much time doing the shopping? Isn’t it a waste of time? And I said no. It’s an investment of time! It’s wonderful to live where you shop and talk to shopkeepers.

TG: When did you realize that you had to live here, and when did you come back to stay?

HWR: After my first trip I came back for my senior year at Michigan and I realized that the only think I wanted to do was go back to France. Everyone was graduating or becoming a teacher or getting married which was the thing to do in those days. I told my friends that I had a one-way ticket to France and that’s it! I flew to France and found a place to stay in a pension de famille with only French kids so I had to speak French.

In those days it was easy to find work so I found a job at Westinghouse Broadcasting with Bernard Redmont who became the dean at Boston University. I was his “girl Friday” as they said in those days but I learned a lot about journalism and later went back to graduate school at McGill at Northwestern. And everyone asked what I was going to do now that I’d grown up and I said I’m going back to France one last time and then I’ll get serious and settle down.

This time I caught a freighter in California for 3 weeks stopping in Acapulco, Vera Cruz, Colombia, the Canary Islands, Morocco and eventually got a train to Paris and it was too noisy, too loud and I decided to go to Argentina but I met Philippe (my husband) and never got to Argentina.

TG: How did that happen?

HWR: Through a mutual friend-actually an old boyfriend. I went to Le Select in Montparnasse and I saw this sad, hostile looking guy but we started talking and he killed me, he was so funny with his deadpan expression. So I stayed another week, another month, I stayed in Paris and ended up marrying the guy.

TG: Since you’re living in the 20th, is this your favorite arrondissement?

HWR: I’ve lived all over Paris. I’ve lived in the 5th, 7th, 15th, 16th and Neuilly. My favorite used to be the 5th and I think it still is because some areas have lost their Paris flavor. The 6th is now one big clothes store with designers like Armani and the 20th remains Parisian.

TG: Do you have a favorite café?

HWR: I have several. One that I like to go to with girlfriends is the Café Marly. I love to look out on the Louvre and the pyramid. I’m a big café person so I usually go to about four a day. First, if I’m doing my shopping on the rue des Pyrenées at eleven I’ll have a fast little black coffee at the bar here at La Fontaine. I know the barman so we’ll talk and then I’ll go home for lunch. After lunch I come out again and have another coffee at another place on the other side of the Place (Gambetta), Le Bar du Metro. And sometimes at around five I’ll take my newspaper and go to one that’s quieter near Père Lachaise. So each café has a different flavor and a different time.

TG: These are mostly local. Do you have a well-known place that you use as a rendezvous before going off to lunch or dinner?

HWR: I move around so much that I just keep finding new places and if I like it I’ll go back. For example when I go the Parc des Butte-Chaumont I’ll go to a café whose name I don’t remember (I have hundreds.)

TG: Is there just a little neighborhood place where you might go for an inexpensive steak-frites

HWR: We eat so much French food and my mother-in-law and sister-in-law are great cooks that with the exception of the great three-stars like Ducasse, we go to Chinese, Thai, Senegalese, and I love an Ethiopian restaurant in the 13th.

TG: What is your house wine?

HWR: Last night we kicked back with a Borgogne aligoté. We also like Graves rouge and the better beaujolais. And I love champagne! I wrote in “French Fried” about a tasting I did with a great sommelier who opened my eyes to champagne.

TG: Do you have a favorite park or garden?

HWR: When I lived in Neuilly I went to the Bois du Bologne every single day. I adored it. That’s the only thing I miss here. But I’m not too far from the Butte Chaumont and the Bois de Vincennes. I like big parks.

TG: What is your favorite time of year?

HWR: Definitely spring because everything comes alive after the horribly depressing winter that drives me out of my mind. And all of sudden April comes and there’s sun and flowers and everyone comes to life. It’s the rebirth of Paris.

TG: Do you have a favorite market in Paris?

HWR: When I lived in Neuilly, I liked the Marché des Sablons. The food is very good and very expensive, but I used to buy my shoes and sweaters there. Now that I live here, I don’t go to markets that much. The rue des Pyrenées has great little shops and a fantastic poissonnerie. I find everything I need here.

TG: How do you stay connected to America?

HWR: I subscribe to the Tribune, but I think that it’s too bad that the Trib is now only the New York Times because when it was the Times and the Washington Post it was a wonderful paper. I also have many American friends.

TG: Do you go back to America regularly?

HWR: I go back once or twice a year to see family.

TG: How do you celebrate Thanksgiving?

HWR: It’s my favorite American holiday. I get a big turkey. In the beginning it was hard to convince the butcher that I didn’t want a butterball-they are starting to sell the Americans (blah!) I wanted a French turkey. I simply roast it and serve it with all the usual trimmings. I invite a bunch of people and each, person brings a dish and I do the turkey.

TG: Do you have problems getting cranberries and other classic American products?

HWR: Yes, in the beginning. My mom would send me care packages. But now I can get frozen cranberries in supermarkets.

TG: How has Paris affected your work?

HWR: I don’t know if you know, but I was a journalist before. I was a freelancer and wrote features for The Herald Tribune. And for ten years I was practically a full-time “stringer” for Time Magazine. My beat was France. I wrote about culture, society and most frequently about business. I also began to write features for European Travel & Life, and that was the start of my first book, “French Toast.”

It affected my work in the sense that I realized that the story of my life in France was a possible book. I didn’t sit down and plan to write a best seller. I had a bunch of problems with France, and I thought the process would be cathartic. I felt that everything in America was better. I wanted my kids to be educated in America-I was sick and tired of France. But through the book, I just relaxed and learned to accept France as she is, and I’ve not had any problems since. So I’ve learned that I can prosper here, and I love it and feel lucky to be here.

TG: Finally, how has Paris affected your life?

HWR: I think Paris has given me a lot of richness. I’m someone who is easily bored and I’m never bored in Paris. It’s the only place to be

I shut my recorder off, and we settled back in our chairs for an espresso and I had to quickly turn it back on as Harriet described how she learned so much about cheese during the writing of “French Fried” that she felt compelled to share her knowledge–which she does at intimate wine & cheese tastings at her Paris apartment.

For complete details or to reserve visit Harriet at www.hwelty.com.