Serial Colors: Frederick e. Grasser Herme

I went to a book signing Thursday night for Frederick e. Grasser Herme’s new cookbook, Serial Colors, at Le Galerie Food in the northern Marais. The delightful gallery/bookstore dedicated to everything food, was packed with eager foodies waiting to have their books autographed. The unique book is actually 10 small notebooks, each in a different color with recipes coordinating to the color. The books are sold separately for 6.50 euros. 85 euros gets you the whole set,smartly bound in a ring with a white Lucite cover, packed in a shiny white box

Frederick e. Grasser Herme is a major player in the Paris food world. In a recent interview, she told me she wears three hats: cookbook author with 20 published books, food consultant to top restaurants and hotels, and cookbook publishing advisor. Her books run the gamut of food topics including caviar, tartines, mozzarella, and queerest of all, a book with recipes for dogs and their masters.


The fashionista boutique and water bar restaurant, Colette, hired her to create a different colored food for their menu every month and that’s how the colored food idea started. The first book, Noir, has recipes for all black food. Another ongoing fascination is making vegetables sweet like desserts and desserts savory in a cookbook, Cuisinez Les Legumes Autrement (Cook the Vegetables Otherwise).

When asked what foods would be a must on a desert island, uzu fruit, a Japanese citrus much like a tangerine with a sour taste, Pierre Herme uzu flavored chocolate, and pink beet roots were her first choices. She likes her food simple, eats just for pleasure and is not particularly interested in food techniques. Favorite chefs/restaurants are Pascal Barbot- L’Astrance, patisserie and chocolate genius and ex-husband Pierre Herme, Thierry Marx-Château Cordeillan-Bages, Helene Darroze, and American Charlie Trotter. Top picks for food shopping are the organic Raspail market on Sundays, Marche Aliques, Marche Alma Marceau, and Grand Epicerie at Le Bon Marche. Current projects include a prepared food menu for Hotel Amour in Paris and menus for the up-scale Moroccan hotel chain, Dar Ahlam.

Being a former chef and caterer in New York, I was inspired by Frederick’s inventive and innovative food ideas.

Click here to order Frederick e. Grasser Herme’s books on Amazon

Comments

[Paris Gossip]

Fascinating!
She got a write up in the NYTimes http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/15/magazine/15food-t.html?_r=1&ref=dining&oref=slogin