Book #36: My Life in France

Title: My Life in France


Author: Julia Child with Alex Prud'homme


Oh my gosh, this is the kind of book that was created just for me. I'm a former French teacher and spent one summer working in a Belgian boulangerie. I swear, when I came back to the US, nothing tasted as good. I lived in England the next year and probaby consider myself more of an Anglophile than a Francophile, but my tastebuds are definitely Gallic. I'm also a total foodie-- one of the generation who has learned her cooking skills from Sara Moulton and Rachael Ray on the Food Network, who used to plan weekend nights around what the secret ingredient would be on Iron Chef. In fact, when my mom comes to town, we always make a pilgrimage to Central Market, the most fantastic grocery store in the world. We never bring a list, and always come home with a basket full of the most fabulous stuff to make for dinner.


As a result, I had so much fun reading My Life in France. Julia Child arrived in France as a thirty-six year-old newlywed in 1948. She could hardly cook at all, but fell in love with French bistro food. Inspired by the accessibility to fresh produce, she started to cook. Eventually, she attended the Cordon Bleu Institute (along with a class full of former military chefs), established cooking classes for American housewives in France, and started the most definitive French cookbook for Americans ever written.


Part travelogue, part journal, part recipe book, I found My Life in France totally inspiring. It reinvigorated my desire to travel (someday-- but hey, if she was 36 the when she learned how to cook I still have a few years to catch up) and to try new things without immediately writing myself off as too old or too tied down.


I can't say enough good things about My Life in France. If you appreciate good food, it's a must read!


--originally published 5/28/06