MY LIFE IN FRANCE, Julia Child Jesse RHINES, PhD, 5/5/2010
I like lots of French foods and go to French restaurants with great anticipation. Unfortunately, I don’t know much about French foods and can’t figure out how to learn more. It is very expensive to take a language and cooking class in France. In the 1950’s, according to Mrs. Julia Child, 300 French Francs equaled one US dollar. When I was there in 1998 or so I was thrilled when 5 Francs equaled one dollar.
I really enjoyed reading MY LIFE IN FRANCE because it was very personable and gave great context of the time there just after World War II. Bombed out buildings were in the many cities and the countryside. As late as 2007, I was shocked to encounter actual machine gun bunkers on the Mediterranean coast of Spain. Imagine what it was like back then. Julia and her husband knew the war intimately having done “light” intelligence work abroad for the USA. In the war’s wake I can imagine finding one’s métier in food as a most comforting experience.
But clearly, not an easy experience. Julia studied hard and was lucky enough to team up with similarly industrious French women and later professional male chefs. She did not husband her knowledge or her eagerness to know and do more. She pushed for what she thought was best with potential editors, collaborators and publishers but was able to maintain friendships that too much pushing might have lost. That takes skill, tact and personality—all three of which she marshaled for her unexpected American television programs. She rose to the occasion each time and provides her reader a primer on how so to do.
Now I have the public library copy of her MASTERING THE ART OF FRENCH COOKING at home—but just for reading. I don’t think myself as brave as she.
Note what 460 Euros gets a diner today at the Paris Cordon Bleu school when 1Euro=US$1.50:
Paris Campus - French Regional Cuisine - 2 days Description Discover the origins and essence of provincial French cooking through a session in Regional Cuisine.This course consists of demonstrations followed by hands-on classes in 2-day classes. Program. March 19-20, 2010 Day 1 - Provence Marseillaise-style rock fish soup Sea bass in a crust with Provence flavors Crème brûlée with lavender
Day 2 - Bordeaux Monkfish medallions semi-cooked in Sauternes wine, mixed salad and red bell pepper coulis Roast sirloin Bordelaise-style with stuffed potatoes Bordeaux cannelé