Colette Rossant
Encyclopedia
Colette Rossant is a French
-American cookbook author, journalist, translator, and restaurateur
.
who moved from Spain to Italy to Istanbul
to Cairo
. Her great-grandfather owned lemon perfume
factories in Upper Egypt
and her grandfather a well-known department store in Cairo. Her father worked in exports and imports in support of the department store. Her parents met in Paris at a wedding. Her father, who was ill for much of his life, returned to Egypt for warmer weather.
Born in Paris, Rossant traveled with her mother to Cairo to live with her father and her father's family during World War II. Her mother spent much of the war in Beirut
(part of the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon), while her brother remained in Paris with their mother's parents.
After World War II, Rossant returned to Paris and lived with her grandmother and brother, joined occasionally by her mother. In Paris, she studied at the Lycée La Fontaine
. She spent a year learning English at Roedean School
near Brighton
, UK. She earned a B.A. in Comparative Literature at the Sorbonne
in 1954. She married American architect James Rossant
in 1955.
with her husband, Rossant pursued several careers, often simultaneously: teaching, writing, translating, restaurant business, and raising a family.
Rossant spent many years teaching French. She was first a language instructor at the Browning School
(1957–1961). She then taught French at Hofstra University
(1961–1970). She became head of the French department at St. Anne's School (1970–1983). Her last position was as Liaison Officer at the New York branch of Crédit Lyonnais
(1985–2000).
Exploring New York, Rossant became very interested in bettering the food she found there. She published her first of seven cookbooks in 1975 (and last to date in 1991). Her third cookbook, A Mostly French Food Processor Cookbook (1980) sold more than 50,000 copies and made a name for her in the Food industry. She became "underground gourmet" for New York Magazine in the 1980s. She served as food and design editor for McCalls Magazine (1983–1990). She then became a columnist for the New York Daily News
, where she wrote a popular Wednesday column called "Ask Colette." Currently, she contributes to Food Arts and Super Chef magazines.
Rossant helped launch two restaurants in New York. Buddha Green (1998–1999) opened in Mid-Town Manhattan and featured original, vegetarian "Buddhist" cuisine. Dim Sum Go Go (2000–2003) opened in Chinatown
and featured original Imperial Cantonese cuisine, although Rossant has stopped consulting there. Her husband James Rossant helped design both, while son Tomas Rossant helped on the interior at Buddha Green.
Rossant has traveled abroad (often with her husband, whose architectural design work took him to countries like Bhutan
, Tanzania
, and Turkey
). Her lifelong interest in Asian cuisines took her to China and Japan, reflected in her cookbooks and restaurants.
Rossant's husband of 55 years died in December 2009. She continues to live in their home near Condeau
, France, on whose town council she serves. She continues to contribute to Super Chef, Food Arts,
and Pays du Perche magazines and is writing a twelfth book.
In November 2010, Rossant received the Prix Eugenie Brazier for the French translation of her first memoir, Memoire d'une Egypte perdue (Editions Les Deux Terres 2010).
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
-American cookbook author, journalist, translator, and restaurateur
Restaurateur
A restaurateur is a person who opens and runs restaurants professionally. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who owns a restaurant, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspects of the restaurant business.-Etymology:The word...
.
Background
Rossant comes from the Palacci family, Sephardic JewsJews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
who moved from Spain to Italy to Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
to Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
. Her great-grandfather owned lemon perfume
Perfume
Perfume is a mixture of fragrant essential oils and/or aroma compounds, fixatives, and solvents used to give the human body, animals, objects, and living spaces "a pleasant scent"...
factories in Upper Egypt
Upper Egypt
Upper Egypt is the strip of land, on both sides of the Nile valley, that extends from the cataract boundaries of modern-day Aswan north to the area between El-Ayait and Zawyet Dahshur . The northern section of Upper Egypt, between El-Ayait and Sohag is sometimes known as Middle Egypt...
and her grandfather a well-known department store in Cairo. Her father worked in exports and imports in support of the department store. Her parents met in Paris at a wedding. Her father, who was ill for much of his life, returned to Egypt for warmer weather.
Born in Paris, Rossant traveled with her mother to Cairo to live with her father and her father's family during World War II. Her mother spent much of the war in Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
(part of the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon), while her brother remained in Paris with their mother's parents.
After World War II, Rossant returned to Paris and lived with her grandmother and brother, joined occasionally by her mother. In Paris, she studied at the Lycée La Fontaine
Lycée La Fontaine (Paris)
Lycée Jean-de-La-Fontaine is a lycée in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, France.The school building, in the shape of an "open rectangle", was constructed on top of ancient fortifications. Construction began in 1935 and finished in 1938. Towards the end of World War II it was used as an American...
. She spent a year learning English at Roedean School
Roedean School
-Roedeanians in fiction:* Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward * Dawn Drummond-Clayton * Emily James...
near Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
, UK. She earned a B.A. in Comparative Literature at the Sorbonne
Sorbonne
The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...
in 1954. She married American architect James Rossant
James Rossant
James Stephan Rossant was an American architect, artist, and professor of architecture. A long-time Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, he is best known for his master plan of Reston, Virginia, the Lower Manhattan Plan, and the UN-sponsored master plan for Dodoma, Tanzania...
in 1955.
Career
Moving to New YorkNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
with her husband, Rossant pursued several careers, often simultaneously: teaching, writing, translating, restaurant business, and raising a family.
Rossant spent many years teaching French. She was first a language instructor at the Browning School
Browning School
The Browning School is a United States college preparatory school for boys founded in 1888 by John A. Browning. It offers study from Pre-Primary level through Form VI and is ranked as one of the top private schools in New York City...
(1957–1961). She then taught French at Hofstra University
Hofstra University
Hofstra University is a private, nonsectarian institution of higher learning located in the Village of Hempstead, New York, United States, about east of New York City: less than an hour away by train or car...
(1961–1970). She became head of the French department at St. Anne's School (1970–1983). Her last position was as Liaison Officer at the New York branch of Crédit Lyonnais
Crédit Lyonnais
Crédit Lyonnais is a historic French bank. In the early 1990s it was the largest French bank, majority state-owned at that point. Crédit Lyonnais was the subject of poor management during that period which almost led to its bankruptcy in 1993...
(1985–2000).
Exploring New York, Rossant became very interested in bettering the food she found there. She published her first of seven cookbooks in 1975 (and last to date in 1991). Her third cookbook, A Mostly French Food Processor Cookbook (1980) sold more than 50,000 copies and made a name for her in the Food industry. She became "underground gourmet" for New York Magazine in the 1980s. She served as food and design editor for McCalls Magazine (1983–1990). She then became a columnist for the New York Daily News
New York Daily News
The Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....
, where she wrote a popular Wednesday column called "Ask Colette." Currently, she contributes to Food Arts and Super Chef magazines.
Rossant helped launch two restaurants in New York. Buddha Green (1998–1999) opened in Mid-Town Manhattan and featured original, vegetarian "Buddhist" cuisine. Dim Sum Go Go (2000–2003) opened in Chinatown
Chinatown
A Chinatown is an ethnic enclave of overseas Chinese people, although it is often generalized to include various Southeast Asian people. Chinatowns exist throughout the world, including East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Americas, Australasia, and Europe. Binondo's Chinatown located in Manila,...
and featured original Imperial Cantonese cuisine, although Rossant has stopped consulting there. Her husband James Rossant helped design both, while son Tomas Rossant helped on the interior at Buddha Green.
Rossant has traveled abroad (often with her husband, whose architectural design work took him to countries like Bhutan
Bhutan
Bhutan , officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked state in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas and bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the People's Republic of China...
, Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
, and Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
). Her lifelong interest in Asian cuisines took her to China and Japan, reflected in her cookbooks and restaurants.
Recently
With children grown and married, Rossant's most recent books have been three memoirs: Apricots on the Nile (2004, originally published as Memories of a Lost Egypt in 1999), Return to Paris (2003), and The World in My Kitchen (2006), published in both the United States and the United Kingdom.Rossant's husband of 55 years died in December 2009. She continues to live in their home near Condeau
Condeau
Condeau is a commune in the Orne department in north-western France....
, France, on whose town council she serves. She continues to contribute to Super Chef, Food Arts,
and Pays du Perche magazines and is writing a twelfth book.
In November 2010, Rossant received the Prix Eugenie Brazier for the French translation of her first memoir, Memoire d'une Egypte perdue (Editions Les Deux Terres 2010).
Memoirs
- The World in My Kitchen (Atria 2006); Madeleine in Manhattan (Bloomsbury 2008)
- Return to Paris (Atria, 2003); Return to Paris (Bloomsbury 2004); Retour a Paris (Editions les Deux Terres 2009)
- Apricots on the Nile (Atria 2004); previously Memories of a Lost Egypt (Clarkson Potter 1999); Apricots on the Nile (Bloomsbury 2002); Mémoires d'une Egypte perdue (Editions les Deux Terres 2009; Albin Michel, 1999); Tadi Damagimda Kalan Ülke: Misir (Oğlak Yayınları 2000); Mein Kairo (Scherz 2002); Abrikozen langs de Nijl (Uitgeverij Sirene 2003); Sárgabarackok a Níluson (Ulpius-Ház 2004)
Cookbooks
- Vegetables: Growing, Cooking, Keeping (Viking Studio Books 1991) with Marianne Melendez
- New Kosher Cooking (Arbor House, 1986)
- Colette's Japanese Cuisine (Kodansha America 1985), introduced by Calvin TrillinCalvin TrillinCalvin Marshall Trillin is an American journalist, humorist, food writer, poet, memoirist and novelist.-Biography:Trillin attended public schools in Kansas City and went on to Yale University, where he served as chairman of the Yale Daily News and was a member of Scroll and Key before graduating...
- Colette's Slim Cuisine (William Morrow 1983)
- A Mostly French Food Processor Cookbook (William Morrow 1983) with Jill Harris Herman
- Colette Rossant's After Five Gourmet (Random House 1981)
- Cooking with Colette (Scribners 1975), edited by Lorraine Davis
Translations
- Best of New York, by Gault MillauGault MillauGault et Millau is one of the most influential French restaurant guides founded by two restaurant critics, Henri Gault and Christian Millau in 1965. Gault Millau is most famous for its rating system, on a scale of 1 to 20. Restaurants below 10 points are almost never listed...
(Prentice Hall, 1988 and 1990) - Bocuse a la Carte' by Paul BocusePaul BocusePaul Bocuse is a French chef based in Lyon who is famous for the high quality of his restaurants and his innovative approaches to cuisine...
(Pantheon Books 1987) - New Classic Cuisine' by Michel RouxMichel RouxMichel Roux is a French-born chef and restaurateur working in Britain.Born in Charolles, Saône-et-Loire, Roux moved to Paris with his family after the war, where they set up a charcuterie...
and Albert RouxAlbert RouxAlbert Roux OBE is a French-born restaurateur and chef working in Britain. He and his brother Michel operated Le Gavroche, the first restaurant in the UK to gain three Michelin stars. He helped train a series of chefs that went on to win Michelin stars, and his son, Michel Roux, Jr...
(MacDonald 1983) - Paul Bocuse's French Cooking, by Paul Bocuse (Pantheon Books 1977)