My life in France… in Chinese

So the oddest thing turned up today. My publisher sent a copy of my book — in Chinese. The recipes are set in their own type and boxed. Flipping through it, I ran across some random words in English, mostly in footnotes. These phrases, isolated on their own, items such as “Cajun napalm,” “cooling rack” and “Soylent Green” make me so curious. How did they explain the concept of nuclear-hot roux to a population that rarely cooks with either butter or white flour?

And then, in the text, there was French. Just as in English. I flipped open to the scene where the chef is explaining the title of the book (shown in the photo above right). It’s all kind of surreal. I like the cover, though.