Inspired by the delightful movie trailer for this summer’s Julie & Julia I borrowed My Life in France from the library. (My Life in France for Canadian readers)

Julia Child, born Julia McWilliams the daughter of an ultra-right wing Republican, was raised in a “comfortable, WASPy, upper-middle-class family in sunny & non-intellectual Pasadena CA”. Although having served with OSS during WW II in Ceylon & China, she describes herself in her early thirties as “unpolished”. She had seen nothing of the world outside of her native U.S. and her war posting. Julia describes her husband Paul:

He was a cultured man, ten years older than I was, and by the time we met, during World War II, he had already traveled the world. Paul was a natty dresser and spoke French beautifully, and he adored good food and wine. He knew about dishes…that seemed hopelessly exotic to my untrained ear and tongue. I was lucky to marry Paul [when Julia was 34]…I would never have had my career without Paul Child.

This fascinating book, written with Paul’s grandnephew & freelance writer Alex Prud’homme, was based on Julia’s memories and the letters written between Paul & his brother Charles Child from 1948-1954, and gives us a glimpse of the world that shaped Julia Child, the French Chef.

Julia’s life in France began in 1948 when Paul was posted to the United States Information Service in Paris. Post-war Paris was a mecca for North American authors & artists. Into the 1960s, one could find bargain flat rentals and bargain food. And it was good food – authentic French bourgeoises food before the country’s cooking, under pressure from low fat, nouveau cuisine, all but disappeared.

Julia had shown no interest in cooking while she was growing up and was a rudimentary cook when she moved to France. She did, however, have interest in food – especially in eating the wonderful French food that was exemplified at her first meal in Rouen: portugaises (briny oysters on the half-shell), pain de seigle (pale rye bread), beurre d’Isigny (light table butter), sole meunière (fried in butter and sprinkled with lemon juice & parsley), salade verte (green salad), baguette, fromage blanc and café filtre. She called it the “most exciting meal of (her) life”. That night she fell in love with French food and devoted her following years in France to learning how to cook it – and to cook it properly.

She attended the prestigious Cordon Bleu Cooking School, and talked to friends, restaurant owners, and chefs. But it was when Simone Beck & Louisette Bertholle asked Julia to collaborate on their proposed book of French cooking that Julia’s future began to get a little clearer. Madames Beck & Bertholle wanted to write for the American market, but needed a native American English speaker to write the recipes in such a way that the “average” American could follow them.

Julia began testing recipes scrupulously, doing market research to ascertain what ingredients would be available to a typical American housewife, and rewriting. It would be a project ten years in the making, and for much of that decade, Julia was cooking. She made it her mission to understand why a recipe succeeded and, perhaps more importantly, why a recipe failed, if it did. I was amazed by the amount of work that went into Mastering The Art of French Cooking and suspect that there has never been a more thoroughly tested collection of recipes ever published. Mastering the Art of French Cooking for Canadian readers

Over time, Mme Bertholle’s role in authoring the book decreased considerably and, although both Julia & Simone were co-authors, in the end, the chef that America came to know was the American – the one who toured, and who appeared on television. That she loved “cookery-bookery” was plainly evident. And so came the creation of the Julia Child whom most of us know and whom many of us love.

I wish I’d paid more attention to Julia Child when she was on the air. Television never was my thing and I guess French cooking wasn’t either as I never bought her cookbook Mastering The Art of French Cooking Trying to catch up, I’ve now reserved DVDs of her 1962 television show The French Chef from Zip.ca.
I hope they will help me keep Julia and Meryl as Julia separate in my head.

If you are a fan of Julia Child, if you are a fan of French cooking, or if you plan to see the movie Julie & Julia this summer, then this book is well worth reading.

[tags]Julia Child, Paul Child, Alex Prud’homme, My Life in France, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Paris, French food, Julie & Julia, Julie and Julia, Julia McWilliams, Charles Child, Cordon Bleu Cooking School, Simone Beck, Louisette Bertholle, 1962 television show, The French Chef[tags]