My Life in France: Julia Child

I just finished reading the book 'My life in France' by Julia Child and Alex Prud Homme. It is a wonderful book and can be enjoyed both by foodies and book lovers. It was written by Julia Child in her later years as a memoir about her experiences in France which changed the whole direction of her life. Julia Child was one of the earliest TV stars, who had her own popular cooking show, during the 1960s and 1970s. I did not know much about her until I saw the movie, 'Julie and Julia'.

When I lived in the US, I had occasionally watched the Martha Stewart show and wondered how she became so popular. Home cooking, a beautiful kitchen and good food seems to be always popular on day time TV. And it was Julia Child who kind of introduced this concept in the US. When I saw a couple of her shows now on You Tube, I thought it was Julia Child's simple commentary and demonstration which made the show such a success. Black and White TV with a made up studio kitchen is not as attractive as the real home of Martha Stewart but Julia Child  was the pioneer TV host who proved that a cooking show would be quite popular.

Anyway, I think I enjoyed 'My Life in France' much better than the TV show. What I liked about the book was the way Julia Child's life is described through her travels and her cooking experiments. The book describes Paris at a time when international travel was not so common or so easy. She had to travel on a ship for a week before reaching Le Havre in France. Paris in the pre-war period has been beautifully captured through photographs and beautiful descriptions of places and smells and sounds. It seems as though Julia Child loved travelling and her curiosity about new places, people, customs, cuisine comes through the book. It is her endless curiosity that led her to master the art of French cooking. Julia Child was actually a modern woman with a good education and work experience. She traveled to various places for work and met her future husband, Paul Child. The experiences of Julia and Paul as they set up their home when they first land in Paris is particularly charming.

The book is quite simply written and gives the impression that Julia Child truly enjoyed her life and cooking for people. It was an enjoyable read and I finished it quite quickly. What I got from the book was that if a person holds on his or her passion, it would show the way to success or fulfillment in life.