Book excerpt: In this heartwarming story of food, friendship, and family, cooking school is the sensual and spiritual reawakening that brings back a woman's hunger for life. A journalist and activist, Canela believes passion is essential to life; but lately passion seems to be in short supply. It has disappeared from her relationship with her fiance, who is more interested in controlling her than encouraging her. It's absent from her work, where censorship and politics keep important stories from being published. And while her family is full of outspoken individuals, the only one Canela can truly call passionate is her cousin and best friend Luna, who just took her own life. Canela can't recover from losing Luna. She is haunted by her ghost and feels acute pain for the dreams that went unrealized. Canela breaks off her engagement, and uses her now unnecessary honeymoon ticket, to escape to Paris. Impulsively, she sublets a small apartment and enrolls at Le Coq Rouge, Paris's most prestigious culinary institute. With a series of new friends and lovers, she learns to once again savor the world around her.