My Life in France by Julia Child Review

 

You have no idea how long I've wanted to read this memoir. I finally got to read it this past month!

My Life in France by Julia Child and Alex Prud'homme is Julia Child's memoir. It is her story on how she got into cooking after she and her husband Paul Child moved to Paris, France. They moved there because of Paul's job at the US Embassy there. In her first few years in France, Julia learned to cook all sorts of French dishes and desserts at a world famous cooking school, and she met two of her long-time collaborators there: Simone Beck (nicknamed Simca) and Louisette Betholle. Julia then got the idea of making a cookbook with French recipes, but for an American audience. Aside from talking about her everyday life in France, she also gets into details on how she, Simca, and Louisette wrote there first and most famous cookbook: Mastering the Art of French Cooking. It was not an easy process! But their book became super-successful overseas (in the United States), to the point that news stations wanted to see Julia do cooking demonstrations. That's what eventually led to what she is now known for most: her cooking show on PBS titled The French Chef. Julia and her friends even wrote two more cookbooks after that, although Simca and Louisette weren't as involved the second and third time around. Basically, the whole book is about her rise to stardom, with things about her friends and family and the places she visited sprinkled throughout.

This was such a neat book! I knew bits and pieces about Julia Child and her career as a celebrity chef, but actually reading her memoir gave me a glimpse into other things I never knew about her. Additionally, the things I did know about her got so much more detail. The thing I loved the most were all the delicious descriptions of all the foods she made and ate. They are very detailed and you can almost taste what she describes on the paper. Well, since she was a chef, she obviously has to know her stuff on texture and taste!

Alex Prud'homme, the second author, is her grandnephew through her husband Paul. This memoir was published in 2006 but Julia Child herself died in 2004. Her nephew Alex was the one who completed the book. 

I gave the book 5 stars. I think I will now go and watch some of Julia Child's old cooking episodes!

Have you read any celebrity memoirs before?