My Life in France Read online

  Such was the case with the sole meunière I ate at La Couronne on my first day in France, in November 1948. It was an epiphany.

  In all the years since that succulent meal, I have yet to lose the feelings of wonder and excitement that it inspired in me. I can still almost taste it. And thinking back on it now reminds me that the pleasures of the table, and of life, are infinite—toujours bon appétit!

  ILLUSTRATION CREDITS

  ALL OF THE PHOTOGRAPHS reproduced in this book are by Paul Child, with the exception of those provided with the permission and courtesy of the following: Robert K. Brigham, Fish & Wildlife Service, U.S. Department of the Interior; Jack Case; the collection of Julia Child; the Child family; Dorothy Cousins; Mark Kauffman, Time Life Pictures/Getty Images; Lee Lockwood; Hans Namuth; WGBH.

  A NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHORS

  JULIA CHILD was born in Pasadena, California. She was graduated from Smith College and worked for the OSS during World War II in Ceylon and China, where she met Paul Child. After they were married they lived in Paris, where she studied at the Cordon Bleu and taught cooking with Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle, with whom she wrote the first volume of Mastering the Art of French Cooking (1961). In 1963, Boston’s WGBH launched The French Chef television series, which made her a national celebrity, earning her the Peabody Award in 1965 and an Emmy in 1966. Several public television shows and numerous cookbooks followed. She died in 2004.

  ALEX PRUD’HOMME, Paul Child’s grand-nephew, is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, and other publications. He is the author of The Cell Game and the co-author (with Michael Cherkasky) of Forewarned. He lives with his family in Brooklyn, New York.

  ALSO BY JULIA CHILD

  Mastering the Art of French Cooking (1961)

  (with Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle)

  The French Chef Cookbook (1968)

  Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume II

  (with Simone Beck) (1970)

  From Julia Child’s Kitchen (1975)

  Julia Child & Company (1978)

  Julia Child & More Company (1979)

  The Way to Cook (1989)

  Cooking with Master Chefs (1993)

  In Julia’s Kitchen with Master Chefs (1995)

  Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home (1999)

  Julia’s Kitchen Wisdom (2000)

  ALSO BY ALEX PRUD’HOMME

  Forewarned (2002)

  (with Michael Cherkasky)

  The Cell Game (2004)

  THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF

  Copyright © 2006 by the Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts and Alex Prud’homme

  All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. Distributed by Random House, Inc., New York.

  www.aaknopf.com

  Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

  Material first appeared in somewhat different form as “In Praise of Partridge,” The New York Times Magazine Sophisticated Traveler, October 21, 1990.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Child, Julia.

  My life in France / by Julia Child with Alex Prud’homme.

  p. cm.

  Includes index.

  1. Child, Julia. 2. Cooks—France—Biography. 3. Cooks—United States—Biography. 4. Cookery, French. I. Prud’homme, Alex. II. Title.

  TX649.C47A3 2006

  641.5092—dc22

  [B] 2005044727

  eISBN: 978-0-307-26472-5

  v3.0