Julia Child’s Life in France.
American-born Julia Child, the celebrity French chef, wrote My Life in France in 2006 after living in Paris, Marseille, and Provence from 1948-1954. She is known for her cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking and her television show The French Chef. Her book became the most beloved cookbook of all time.
Julia McWilliams from Pasadena, California, married Paul Child in 1946. She revolutionized American cuisine through her step-by-step, illustrated recipes and became the first celebrity chef in the world. Not bad for someone who couldn’t cook, couldn’t speak French, and had never been to France – until her husband Paul Child was posted there in 1948. Her skill was – eating! She loved food, especially French food.
While Paul was elegant and refined, Julia was ‘a six-foot-two-inch, thirty-six-year-old, rather loud and unserious Californian’ when they arrived in Paris two years after they married.
When Paul worked at the American Embassy in Paris, Julia studied at Le Cordon Bleu cooking school – for something to do – and the rest is history. It changed her life. Julia Child says,
‘I found my true calling, experienced an awakening of the senses.’
Julia was not happy with the management of Le Cordon Bleu school but was consumed with learning more. This was at a time when there were no English-language French cookbooks available – a gap in the market, particularly the American market. With Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle, their attempts to publish a French cooking book for Americans – in the English language – hit many hurdles. But finally, Mastering the Art of French Cooking was published, initially in one volume, in 1961. The second volume was released in 1970.
In late 1949, television came to the United States, but not in Paris yet. She took her French cookbook to the television screen. Her hugely popular television show The French Chef ran from 1963-1973.
Paul, ten years older than Julia, died in 1994, and Julia died ten years later in 2004.
My Life in France is not only about the love of food and the love of cooking – and the story behind the creation of Julia Child’s rise to popularity – but it is also about the 50-year love story between Julia and Paul. Like her previous successes, this book is a success too.
Great post! Love Julia! 🙂🌟