A Conversation with Mireille Guiliano.

A walking ad for the FRENCH WOMEN DON’T GET FAT COOKBOOK Mireille met me for coffee on the rue du Cherche-Midi at Le Rousseau.  Adorably petite, she was wearing a long purple coat that worked magnificently for her–so very French. Having produced a big event in San Francisco for the monumentally successful FRENCH WOMEN DON’T GET FAT 6 years ago we had a lot of catching up to do as her life had changed dramatically since that book turned into a franchise.

TG: Let’s go back to the beginning. Describe your professional life before the first book and now after having achieved iconic status.

MG: My life was and is exciting, and I am blessed and thankful every day for it. Granted, what I do now is quite different from being CEO for Clicquot Champagne which was demanding, exhaustive, exhilarating to being my own “in box” dedicated to writing, lecturing, mentoring and in a way going from “shareholder’s value” to “social value.”  Maybe it was meant to be as we all should spend time in our life giving back.  So, I don’t see my present life as anything “iconic” or “status,” it is simply a new stage or episode in my life. I’d like to say my third act or encore career which came a bit like “un cheveu sur la soupe” in other words not really planned but in many ways part of my professional life, learning how to live “bien dans sa peau” and one leading to the other in a mysterious way.  Maybe “l’ange au sourire” (the smiling angel) had something to do with it.

TG: Talk about some of the key differences between French and American women.

MG: Being both a French woman and an American woman since I have both citizenships (having lived half of my life in both countries, going back and forth all my life, and liking and disliking certain things in both) I’d like to say after 25 years that the major difference still is joie de vivre-- in the quality of life and managing our expectations. 

We are dealing with two different cultures, the old world and the new one. French women are experiencing a tough time these days, 15 years or so behind the American woman in terms of work life, having to go to work and trying to juggle professional and personal life.  There is nostalgia, confusion and attachment to the quality of life that may not quite be possible in the 21st- century France.  American women have other challenges, the multitasking and the fact that over 50% of American women are college educated and work in middle management keep us as a force in the economy and the future but also play havoc on our personal and professional life.  On both sides, we need to invent/reinvent ways of dealing with all those challenges to basically both get to a better equilibrium and live our life in a more sensible way.

French women (at least the ones I know) seem to be more natural and feminine, less obsessed with youth and beauty (although that is changing too with globalization) , have a different view of friendship (with men and women) , entertainment, humor, play time.  The notion of pleasures is very French and we are a bit more hedonistic.
The American woman experienced feminism with both its pluses and minuses a few decades ago. The “home” part suffered a lot but now American women (again the ones I know) are learning to put aside the wrong idea of freedom, Puritanism and find time for themselves to reach some kind of balance.  They also are more adventurous and curious than my French sisters and learn more quickly whether it’s about cooking or getting dressed more casually or decorating their home.
With globalization and cultural exchanges, both can and have to learn from each other and help each other.  The world’s borders are shrinking.

TG: Discuss the feedback you’ve received from American women and how they have been able to integrate your principles into their lives.

MG: In a small way, my books have touched American women the most.  I see it from my readership and my web sites.  American women are smart and want to integrate what they can from other cultures.  Those who understood the French lifestyle I talk about in my first two books have been able to make changes and understand one does not have to be French or live in France to eat differently and walk and cook, etc., plus there is no such thing as “one size fits all” but each of us needs to spend time knowing thyself in order to grow and adapt to our ever-changing world.

TG: I love the new book, FRENCH WOMEN DON’T GET FAT COOKBOOK since I don’t want to get fat either-just a little brioche (small pot belly for comfort) and have been testing several of the recipes. I share your passion for the leek and you may truly be called the Lady of the Leek or La Princesse Poireaux.
The recipes are straightforward, easy to prepare. As a busy professional did you develop them to be able to eat a home cooked meal after a busy workday?

MG: I am not a professional chef so I don’t really “develop” recipes like one does for a restaurant, a TV show or a traditional cookbook.  I have eaten out regularly at fancy restaurants all my professional and adult life, so when I am home I cook simply like a home cook which has always been appealing to my readers i.e, I don’t take myself seriously, I am one of them. I play either with family recipes (remember until a few years ago, very few French women used recipe books certainly in my family nobody had any) that I adjust to my taste, my lifestyle and mostly my time.  I mostly learned the hard way: having a job for so long where 10 hours a day was the norm, I had to figure out a way to be able to make a meal within 30 minutes when I got home, tired and hungry.  I also shared recipes all my life with relatives and friends in Alsace and Provence, mostly Provence (80% of what I cook is Méditerranée cuisine) and Italy. During the summer in Provence I’m most creative in wanting to serve different versions of a dish always looking for freshness, taste, not too much time at the stove and multiple use of the same dish. My ratatouille is a good example: it’s not the classic recipe, it’s a bit “deconstructed” may I say, with only 3 veggies but then 3 ways of serving it, and all the people who come and visit are impressed how easy and delicious it is and love the approach.  In the end, I want people to cook, so making it easy, fast and delicious is key.

TG: Who was the strongest influence on your cooking?

MG: Definitely my mother, my grandmother and all her sisters who were all amazing cooks and bakers and spoiled me for life. Also, a few members of my family had a restaurant and eating there or watching them cook certainly had an impact. As an adolescent, a cousin in  Aix-en-Provence  had an enormous influence on my taste buds and my husband in a way introduced me to the “pasta world” before anyone else.  My travel also helped me think about new ways and countries like Morocco, Italy, Japan were eye openers.

TG: And finally I guess we have to thank your father for criticizing you into building your career.
 
MG: Probably, though I don’t like to admit it, but if I try to think what could/would have happened had he not “insulted” me in pointing out so bluntly how bad (fat) I looked, I’d rather grant him a big “merci.”
More than that it was a lesson learned early: be open to criticism, look at it as constructive and learn from it.  It certainly helped me change gears and more importantly decide after having lost my extra weight and got back to normal that this would not happen again.  So, yes, lesson learned.