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Summary
“Although she would later singlehandedly create a new approach to American cuisine with her cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking and her television show The French Chef, Julia Child was not always a master chef. Indeed, when she first arrived in France in 1948 with her husband, Paul, who was to work for the USIS, she spoke no French and knew nothing about the country itself.
But as she dove into French culture, buying food at local markets and taking classes at the Cordon Bleu, her life changed forever with her newfound passion for cooking and teaching. Julia’s unforgettable story—struggles with the head of the Cordon Bleu, rejections from publishers to whom she sent her now-famous cookbook, a wonderful, nearly fifty-year long marriage that took the Childs across the globe—unfolds with the spirit so key to Julia’s success as a chef and a writer, brilliantly capturing one of America’s most endearing personalities.”
-From Amazon.com
Review
I am a serious sucker for books about food. I adored Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain (one of my favorite books) and Save Me The Plums by Ruth Riechl. There’s something so wonderful being able to look through the eyes of someone who lives in that world, see how crazy it is, experience all their travel and also learn a thing or three. My Life In France absolutely did not disappoint with wonderful scenes recounted from France, the hustle and bustle of Julia making her cookbook(s) and just her general life.
To say she had a very busy and, what I would call, fulfilling life is so amazing to see. She traveled, she integrated into the community, had a few cool jobs and she worked her rear end off! I know that a lot of work goes into making books but to see the level of work that went into making her cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking, although understandable due to the sheer size, was almost stressful! The testing, the trial, the error, the time it takes to make a single recipe – her dedication is incredible!
I always liked her as a cook and have used so many of her recipes over the years but my respect for her massively went up from this. I had no idea the levels that she went to to make some of these cookbooks and it is a feat of raw cooking strength.
This is an autobiography, something which I don’t usually read, but it was for my book club and every cooking book I’ve read has been for that. But I have absolutely adored every single one that I read. While it is non-fiction, I feel like I am transported each time into someone else’s life. And it also continually shocks me just how much some people really achieve in their life.
This book primarily followed her origin story for cooking – how she found out about it, where she started and how she got to where she is. But then the second half was following her want to make the Mastering the Art of French Cooking cookbook and the time and energy it took. It then followed her into her cooking shows a bit and the level of work that it took to create those.
Honestly, this is one of those books that is such a joy to read! It was packed with information and travels and every time I picked it up I truly did feel transported – between her descriptions, use of the French language (don’t worry, you don’t need to speak French as she translates it all) and the inclusion of photographs!
I adore a book that has photographs included to further illustrate what someone is describing. Sometimes I wish more books for adults had illustrations or photographs. This one had quite a few dotted throughout the book and it was wonderful to really see her spaces, the places she was at and the people she was talking about.
Overall, this was an excellent read and I am so glad my book club chose it, because otherwise I’d probably not have naturally picked this one up. I absolutely recommend this and give it a solid 4/5 stars!
Happy Reading.
