The Genesis of the Book Goes Back to Lucien Vendome

The book is about Supper Clubs. My wife Susan and I have been in them for years. Just about everyone loves to socialize over a meal and Supper Clubs are a great way to make that happen. But, there are some challenges to Supper Clubs. The goal of the book is solve those challenges and make the idea of Supper Clubs fun. I am targeting millennials because they are coming of age where socializing over a meal is a priority. Supper clubs are a perfect enabler for them (and any other demographic). The book tells you how to organize, entertain etc. And yes there is quite a bit of tacky humor written into it.

The genesis of the book goes back to Lucien Vendome. Lucien was the head of Culinary Innovation for Nestle. (His picture was on the boxes of Lean Cuisine for years). Lucien and I worked together at Kraft years ago and are good friends. He is simply one of the best chefs in the world and a really bright guy. During our years together in Memphis he and I hosted many a dinner party and he was a key member of the original “Impromptu Friday Nights” crew. One night after a particular fun dinner party he asked me: “Have you ever thought about writing about Supper Clubs? Lots people write cook books. Not may people know how to organize a supper club the way you and Susan do”. That planted a seed and when I retired form Kraft I started writing. My plan had been to self publish, but then I hired an editor who actually liked what I wrote and convinced me to try to get a publisher interested. Now the book has been accepted by Morgan James Publishing and gets launched January 30, 2018.

Lucien always brought a certain levity and charm to our Supper Club events. One night our friends Jorene and Steve joined us. Later in the evening Lucien mentioned to Jorene that “Jorene” was a different name and asked her what the derivation was. She explained something along the lines of she had aunts named Josephine and Irene and her parents combined it into Jorene. Lucien turned up his French charm and accent and said: “For the rest of the night I think we should call you Jo-René”. Not missing a beat Jorene’s husband Steve chimed in with “I feel like I will be going home tonight with different woman”. It’s probably been 15 years since that evening, my guess is that the bruise on his arm where Jorene smacked him has just about faded away.

The whole concept behind Supper Clubs is to have fun. I have tried to write in fun way and just hope people enjoy the book as much as we have enjoyed Supper Clubs.