The bestselling story of Julia's years in France--and the basis for Julie & Julia, starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams--in her own words.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.
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Julia Child is one of my role models because of the way she was: inspiring, joyful, and always positive. I’ve watched the movie, the series, and some of her documentaries. And while I can’t say I’ve seen all of her cooking shows, what truly drives me is her story. I never get tired of revisiting how the legend of Child came to be and how her beautiful personality inspired those around her and drew them into her world.
My first introduction to Julia Child was through the movie Julie & Julia (the book of which we’ve already talked about here). At first, Meryl Streep’s performance captivated me, but the essence of what she was portraying left a question in the air—who was that energetic person who spread her zest for life to everyone around her?
She inspired me to learn how to cook. Right now, I’m collecting most of the books she wrote (at least the ones that catch my interest), and I’ve set myself the challenge of learning to cook most of her recipes, as much as possible.
Her book My Life in France tells us about her arrival in France and what inspired her to learn how to cook. Julia faced a world where cooking was a man’s profession, where it was unusual for a woman to want to learn to cook professionally—and at an age when most would already be considered “too old” to start a new career.
Reading all her thoughts and frustrations teaches us that any hobby requires patience and time. That there will be people who try to stop us from reaching our goals (like the woman at Le Cordon Bleu who wouldn’t let her enroll in professional classes). Julia always looked for ways to achieve her goals, and it seems she found these obstacles entertaining—they gave her even more motivation to keep going.
The book also made me appreciate my copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking even more, because within the pages of her biography, you can see all the research she did to adapt French recipes for the American public and the back-and-forth correspondence she had with Simone for testing and approval from her collaborator.
There’s no doubt that Mastering the Art of French Cooking remains relevant today. It not only teaches you how to cook French food—it gives you the foundations of cooking in general. And reading how this classic was written is a marvel that could change your life.
It’s hard not to feel inspired by Julia Child and not get motivated in any project you have in life.
The only downside I see to this book is that you really need to like the subject of cooking and know who Julia was in order to truly enjoy it. I personally loved it, and that’s why I gave it five stars on Goodreads.
Have you heard of Julia Child?
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