About Susan

As an award-winning journalist/author and internationally recognized expert on food, Susan takes a unique approach to her craft; combining training in journalism with a love for food and the people who produce t.

Extensive travel throughout the United States, France, Italy, the Middle East and parts of Asia has given Susan a depth of knowledge and an appreciation for the rich traditions around food—how it is grown, harvested, and prepared.  Susan believes firmly in the connection between food producers and consumers; she has been a proponent of sustainable agriculture for more than twenty-five years, and nearly all of the ingredients she uses in her kitchen in Normandy are produced within five kilometers of her home.

Pleasure and food are bywords for Susan, both in the kitchen and the dining room.  She delights in meeting people and writing about them, gathering recipes and testing them for you, the reader.  Her fondest hope is that you will enjoy her writing and her food as much as she enjoys preparing both for you, and that you will share your pleasure with family and friends.

Susan is the author of nine books both food and literary, the most recent of which is Nuts in the Kitchen (Willam Morrow). Susan is  the founder and owner of On Rue Tatin, a small, personalized cooking school in Normandy and Paris.  Susan is also a founding partner in www.notakeout.com a website geared to encourage the novice and the accomplished cook to have fun in the kitchen preparing simple, delicious, seasonal meals with a minimum of effort and time, then to enjoy them in good company with a maximum of pleasure.

Susan  lives with her two children year round in a lovingly-restored convent in the center of a lively Norman town, across the street from the Gothic Church of Nôtre-Dame de Louviers.    This immense and awe inspiring structure provides ambience for meals served in the 12th century dining room, and the flower-filled front courtyard.  The bells lend their resonance, an added attraction.

Bon Appétit!