SPECIAL EVENT!
SUPPORT CULINARY ARTS AND EDUCATION!
DECEMBER 14, 2017, 3:30-6:00, ANN ARBOR
CITY CLUB
DIRECT LINK FOR TICKET ORDER:
ldeaa.brownpapertickets.com
|
The main
event will be a fabulous presentation
by Dame CiCi Williamson of the D.C.
Les Dames d’Escoffier
International (LDEI)
Chapter focused on the dining,
kitchen, and food (preparation and
service) behind the scenes during the
filming of the popular Downton Abbey
TV series. CiCi is the
author of six cookbooks, a syndicated
columnist, past president of the Culinary
Historians of Washington
D.C., and past president
of LDEI. In addition, she
was host of an award-winning PBS-TV show
entitled The Best of Virginia
Farms.
The event
is open to the public and it is a
great Holiday event for Ann Arbor
Chapter of LDEI (LDE-AA)
members and Ann Arbor City Club
members to celebrate with friends,
family, and colleagues. In
addition, it is a major fundraising
project for the scholarship program of
LDE-AA which
supports women enrolled in our area
culinary programs.
Poster on display at the Ann
Arbor City Club. Flyers
and other take-aways available
at the City Club and elsewhere
in Ann Arbor. Link
to poster pdf file.
With
many thanks to all of the staff
of the Ann Arbor City Club for
their patient expertise in event
planning and execution, and in
particular to:
General
Manager: Greg Fleming
Catering Manager: Donnie
Burton
Dining Room Manager:
Megan Gibson
Executive Chef: Nathan
Ennis
|
GIFT TO
LDEI MEMBERS AT THE DOWNTON
ABBEY EVENT
The book you are about to
receive as a gift, Cooking à la
Cordon Bleu (Harper & Row,
1970) by Alma Lach, was donated
to Les Dames d’Escoffier by
Sandra Lach Arlinghaus in memory
of her mother, Alma, Dame of
Distinction (Chicago
Chapter). This work is the
predecessor to Alma’s Hows and
Whys of French Cooking,
University of Chicago Press
(1974). Your book is not
only a brand new book, straight
from the boxes sent by the
publisher to Alma, it also has
an interesting history.
Indeed the book is out of print,
but it never was in print for
long. Here’s the story,
according to Alma.
When Alma entered the Cordon
Bleu in Paris in 1949, and again
when she graduated with the
Grand Diplome in 1956, she and
others were told by school
officials that the name of ‘Le
Cordon Bleu’ was not to appear
in the title of any book
subsequently written by former
students. Alma set about
creating a carefully crafted
analysis of the food system she
had learned in Paris.
Harper & Row agreed to
publish the document.
Together they agreed on the
title with ‘a la’ in it instead
of ‘le’. The idea was that
in America, folks think of ‘a
la’ as meaning ‘in the manner
of’ or ‘with’ as in apple pie a
la mode. They believed
that then the use of Cordon
Bleu, blue ribbon (a common
phrase), would transform the
name to capture a double
entendre with American common
parlance rather than using the
name of the school
itself.
Cute? Well, too cute, as
it turns out. After a
short period of time, the school
found out about it and their
attorneys demanded that the book
be removed from the
market. Harper & Row
became convinced and obliged
them. If you knew Alma,
you know that she never became
‘convinced’. So, Alma
personally bought up the
original plates and all the
remaining hard copies that had
been printed—your book is one of
those.
The hard copy books have been
stored in unopened printer’s
boxes in Alma’s basement in her
Chicago apartment since then…
through 2016. Long ago,
the plates were turned over to
the University of Chicago Press
and served as the basis for a
new 1974 book, The Hows and Whys
of French Cooking. Thus,
the new book is the old book
with a changed title and new
material added at the end on
French regional cuisine.
We hope you enjoy the original
document, its history as well as
its content!
|
|
|
|
|