A gorgeous cookbook about living well the French way from the founders of the Cook’s Atelier, a cooking school in Burgundy, France

French at Heart shows how to create simple, joyous family meals around your own table, in whatever place you call home.

When mother and daughter duo Kendall Smith Franchini and Marjorie Taylor moved to Beaune in Burgundy, France, to open their now-incredibly popular cooking school the Cook’s Atelier, they learned that choosing to appreciate tiny moments more mindfully, like they saw the French do, really opened their hearts.

To them, being French at heart doesn’t mean you have to speak French or live in France; it means slowing down enough to enjoy the little details of every day. Whether that’s preparing a meal for your family and taking the time to enjoy it together around the table or taking an extra moment to set the table with fresh flowers, curating your own joy is worth your time, and this cookbook offers plenty of ideas for ways you can adopt this particularly French habit in your own life.

These are classic recipes that will make you fall in love with France: things like Salade Niçoise, Duck Confit, and Tarte Tatin.

They are simple recipes, what Taylor and Smith Franchini often cook for their family after a long day, and reflect their take on familiar French favorites. They offer ways to adapt, improve, or simplify classic recipes, along with plenty of additional advice on how to serve a memorable cheese or charcuterie board, curate a French-inspired pantry, start your own kitchen garden, or get the most out of your local farmers’ market.

Creating meaningful moments around meals and sharing them turns out to be quite contagious—and exactly why people love coming to see Taylor and Smith Franchini at their cooking school. Cooking is about more than just the food, and while French at Heart has more than 100 go-to recipes, it is a cookbook for anyone who wants to discover those little details that make our time around the table even more special.