The award-winning food and travel writer Sylvie Bigar discusses her new memoir Cassoulet Confessions: Food, France, Family and the Stew That Saved My Soul (Hardie Grant Books, 2022), with Joseph Planta.

Cassoulet Confessions: Food, France, Family and the Stew That Saved My Soul by Sylvie Bigar (Hardie Grant Books, 2022). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Cassoulet Confessions

Text of introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.

Sylvie Bigar joins me now. The award-winning food and travel writer has just published a new memoir Cassoulet Confessions: Food, France, Family and the Stew That Saved My Soul. It begins with an assignment to write about the slow-simmered concoction known as cassoulet. Along the way, and over the years, Ms. Bigar learns about the dish’s history, its devotees, its guardians, and the southern French countryside from which it originated, chiefly the Occitanie region. Sylvie writes so reverently of the meat and bean stew, getting her hands into the mix as it were, butchering meat, gathering the local ingredients needed for the cooking. As she does this, she’s transported to a dramatic childhood in Geneva, Switzerland. She reflects on her parents and their remarkable lives, and the uniqueness of their family. She also confronts her own heritage, her own ancestry, and her idea of home. It’s such a rich book, as everything comes together for Sylvie, and yields a very satisfying book. I defy anybody to read this book and not want to try making cassoulet. And in the appendices at the end of the book, she includes recipes for cassoulet and they each make allowances for one’s aptitude and or ambition in the kitchen. Sylvie Bigar’s writing has appeared in such publications as the New York Times, the Washington Post, Food & Wine, Forbes.com, Saveur, Bon Appetit, Edible, Departures, Travel & Leisure, and National Geographic Traveller. That’s just in English. In French, she’s contributed to Le Figaro, Historie Magazine, Le Temps, and French Morning.com. Her website is at www.sbigar.com. This new book is published by Hardie Grant Books. She joins me from New York City. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, Sylvie Bigar; Ms. Bigar, good morning.

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