“My Life in France” by Julia Child
“My Life in France” was the story that Nora Ephron adapted for the screenplay of “Julie & Julia”. I loved the movie which was one of my initial inspirations to my becoming a food blogger. But more than the role of Julie the blogger, I thought that Meryl Streep was uncanny in her depiction of Julia. I remember watching Julia Child’s cooking shows in the 60s and knowing that I wanted to be a TV cook. To this end I was going to obtain my degree in Home Economics but this plan derailed when in high school, I landed an on camera job with the CBC. Everyone of my teachers allowed me to be tutored in the classes that I would miss when filming. Everyone, except my chemistry teacher who said “You aren’t in my classroom, you don’t pass the course”. I had already obtained a portion of my goal (the TV part) so I decided to switch gears and obtain my degree in Theatre instead. It wasn’t until years later that I returned to my original love to focus my career.
This summer whilst at the summer home of a friend, I found a copy of “My Life in France” on her bookshelf.
I found a beautiful place to read and then I couldn’t put it down. Here is an excerpt from the first chapter of Part 2 entitled “French Recipes for American Cooks” (page 280):
We knew we’d have to emphasize the simpler cuisine bourgeoise dishes over the grande cuisine. After all, our readers wouldn’t have mortars and pestles for pounding lobster shells, or copper bowls for whipping egg whites, and they weren’t used to taking the time and care over sauces that the French were accustomed to. Perhaps that would come with time. For now, I could see clearly the challenge was to bridge the cultural divide between France and America. The best way to do that would be to emphasize the basic rules of cooking, and impart the things I’d learned from Bugnard and the other teacher-chefs-not the least of which was the importance of including fun and love in the preparation of a meal!
Kath’s quote: “Find something you’re passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it.” ― Julia Child