My Life in France

Julia Child singlehandedly awakened America to the pleasures of good cooking with her cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking and her television show The French Chef, but as she reveals in this bestselling memoir, she didn't know the first thing about cooking when she landed in France.

Indeed, when she first arrived in France in 1948 with her husband, Paul, 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.  Julia's unforgettable story unfolds with the spirit so key to her success as a cook and teacher and writer; brilliantly capturing one of the most endearing American personalities of the last fifty years.

When I grow up I want to be like Julia Child!  She was quite a woman!


I think I've always been a fan. I remember watching her shows on PBS, leafing through my mother's copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and wishing that someday I would be comfortable in the kitchen to create these mouth watering recipes.  I haven't mastered cooking yet.  I love to cook, but my experimenting is very limited at the moment, my children are super fussy eaters.  I'm hoping that in the next few years their palates will be more receptive to new tastes and they will be more acceptable to trying new things.


I've watched Julie & Julia, and loved seeing Julie's struggle and achievement of MTAOFC.  And I also read the book, Julie & Julia: 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen by Julie Powell.  You can find my thoughts on the book, here.  When we visited Washington, DC, a few years back I made a point of visiting Julia Child's kitchen at the National Museum of American History, and I have a picture to prove it, too.


It was only a matter of time until I got my hands on this book.  I have this problem about "reviewing" memoirs.  How can I review someone's memories, life?  I can tell you that the book itself was a great read and Julia Child seemed to have a wonderful time discovering her culinary gift. I can also tell you that this book left me very hungry at times.


My Life in France by Julia Child with Alex Prud'homme (4.5/5) Memoir; Published: Anchor Books (10/2007); Books 2012(11);