“My Life in France” Julia Child

“My Life in France” Julia Child, written by Alex Prud’homme from taped interviews and notes from many memory sessions with Mrs. Child.
Anyone who is intrigued by France and the French and also just as riveted by the history and culture of cuisine in France has got to read this book. Even if you could care less about Julia Child herself (and it is hard not to be entranced by this 6’2” Pasadenian), this book brings to like Paris from just after the second world war up to the mid 1950’s and then France on up to the mid 1970’s or at least her continued cultural and gastronomic ties to the country.

For me, it brings back so many memories of the Paris I remember and the France I remember from my childhood. It was a time when we were there, when France and the French were still 100% French. Sure some tentative inroads were being made that were not French like miniature supermarkets, “Le Drugstore” with hamburgers, of course Coke (drunk warm), Levi’s and a few other things, but everything else was pure French. The cars, the food, the magazines and newspapers. Shopping was still done at all the specialty stores – the butchers, bakers, vegetable stalls and such.

Her husband was an artist and photographer. The book is liberally sprinkled with his black and white photographs of Paris and France. Some remind me of the photos I took when in Paris at ACP. Sadly most of the shots of the city I took were on 120 film and the negatives were misplaced when my parents moved back to the US in lat 1970’s, but I still have the contact prints which are not great but better than nothing. I will try to get some of these up on the website in the near future. But both his and mine show the buildings still with their overcoat of black soot. Do you remember having to either walk under the blue plastic wrapped scaffolding as the sand blasters were at work? The noise and the sand and water running down the gutters? Either that or risking life and limb stepping out in front of traffic to get around the structures? Either way, I kept expecting a tool or a bolt to land on my head. In fact, I think Eric Elbot and I were doing one or the other when something fell very close to Eric. A foot one way of the other and “paffe” he would have been dead meat.

But we were students without the financial resources to wade into anything but the most primitive of French cuisine. A “croque monsieur” or “sandwiche jambon” is hardly cuisine, and one of the living cultural riches that France has to offer, the core of who and what they are is their culinary culture. It defines the people as a whole and each small region individually that make up the tapestry of the country where the differences can be huge. Wine is included in the culinary tableau since it is such an integral part of the gastronomy.

What also should make this interesting to we members of ACP classes is that while Julie Child is distinctly American, from the moment she set foot in France, she felt as if she were returning home. So we get to see France from the point of view of someone who is both very American and also with a love of France and who through her food and passion for French food in particular, sought to help the two cultures come to understand more about each other. She reveled in the total emersion into the French culture. The cuisine created a bridge between the two countries while at the same time her husband Paul was working for the US Government trying to do the same thing through the medium of the arts and cultural exchanges.

So if any of you have not yet read this marvelous book, even if food is not your passion, run right out and buy it or send for it on Amazon.com because this is a must read work.

Peter D'Aprix '64-'66