Letters: Don’t forget Ladurée for Parisian macarons

Regarding “In Paris, Let Them Eat Macarons,” by Karen Leland [Nov. 20]: Leland reported on three of the top patisseries serving delicious macarons. But why, oh, why did she leave out Ladurée (16-18 Rue Royale) and other locations in the city? Just the crowds lining up to buy these delicacies would tell you that something special is going on inside the shop, but the proof is when this work of culinary art dissolves in your mouth, and your taste buds shout out with glee!

Michael Hall

Los Angeles

Cambodian dining

Regarding “Taking the Palate for a Thrill Ride,” by Heidi Fuller-Love [Nov. 20]: Had I read this article in September, I might have given pause to my plan to spend a week in Cambodia. Instead, I spent the first week in October in this fascinating country and enjoyed a variety of foods from fine white-tablecloth dining in Phnom Penh to street food in Siem Reap. Instead of fried spider or termite-egg soup, I discovered fish amok, which I learned to cook in a class in Siem Reap and have also prepared since coming home. Readers should not be discouraged from visiting Cambodia by concluding from this article that their dining options consist mostly of insects and similar crawling creatures.

Marcia Steil

Chatsworth

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Fuller-Love showed a sad disregard for environmental responsibility when she bought and ate snake salad and fried tarantulas. She admits that the fried arachnids’ popularity may cause their extinction, but that didn’t stop her from buying a bag of the critters. She didn’t say whether she bothered to find out what species of dried snake she was consuming, and whether it was sustainably caught or raised. How were her purchases any different from ordering a bowl of shark’s-fin soup?

When we travel, we have a responsibility to purchase food that’s sustainable and doesn’t harm the environment. This principle isn’t something we should blithely abandon as soon as we pass through airport security.

Callie Mack

San Diego

Fill ‘er up

Catharine Hamm’s response in On the Spot [“The Tanks They Get,” Nov. 20] to Art Andrade’s letter regarding submitting receipts for gas used was right on. Rental companies that ask for them are somewhat hypocritical. I have oftentimes gotten into a rental vehicle only to find that the gas tank was not full even though the document I received prior to picking up the vehicle said it was. The customer is asked to rely on the good faith and trust of the leasing company while the same company demands proof of gas purchased from the consumer. A needless waste of time and a very poor PR ploy.

Thanks for pointing out the hypocrisy and lose/lose posture such companies adopt.

Barry Rubin

Beverly Hills

In Letters [Nov. 20], Mary-Lynne Fisher wrote to complain about the car rental agency she used to pick up a car in Monaco and return in Avignon, France, for not telling her about the toll on the autoroute.

Instead of blaming guide books and car rental agents who had no idea where she and her husband would be driving (only where they planned to drop the car), some homework would have helped them avoid the tolls. If they had access to the Internet, a simple search on https://www.viamichelin.com for example, would have pointed out the best route between the two places based upon time, cost and stops along the way.

Diane Ohanian

San Diego