Cookbook Club November 2026: When French Women Cook

Forever French

No cuisine has seduced Americans quite like the French. This autumn, we give it our full attention across three months and three books that together cover remarkable range—from a Provençal vineyard kitchen to the regional home cooks who built the French culinary tradition to a former Chez Panisse pastry cook making his home in Paris. Annette is classically trained in the French tradition and a former instructor at the French Culinary Institute, which makes her exactly the right guide.

If you can't sign up for the whole Fall 2026 season, we invite you to join the club for one month as members experience the regional variations of French cuisine via When French Women Cook by Madeleine Kamman.

Meets on Zoom, Tuesdays, November 3 & 17, 7:00–8:30 pm ET.

Kamman grew up cooking in her aunt's two-Michelin-star restaurant in Touraine, moved to the US, and spent more than forty years as one of the most demanding culinary teachers in America.

This part memoir, part cookbook, part regional tour of French cuisine, profiles eight women whose skill reveals the depth of the country’s traditions. Among them: an Alsatian whose quenelles of frog legs come dressed in herb sauce, and the grandmother of Paul Bocuse—to whom Kamman dedicates the book, in an unsubtle response to the chef’s claim that women lack the instincts for great cooking.

Customers outside the United States: please contact us to discuss international shipping costs.

Click here to see our Complete Cookbook Club FAQ page.

Click here to sign up for an annual membership at significant savings.