Julia Child’s Brooklyn connection

Brooklyn BookBeat

December 20, 2017 By Peter Stamelman Special to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Alex Prud'homme. Photo: Michael Lionstar

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Alex Prud’homme, great nephew of Paul Child and co-author with Julia Child of “My Life in France,” which inspired half of the 2009 film “Julie & Julia,” has co-written, with Katie Pratt, a new book “France is a Feast: The Photographic Journey of Paul and Julia Child.”

The multitalented Prud’homme — who lives with his family in Prospect-Lefferts Park — has provided the perfect holiday gift book for Francophiles, aspiring chefs, and anyone who adores the vitality and wit of the incomparable Julia.

“France is a Feast” chronicles Julia and Paul’s life in Paris in the late 1940s, when Julia first began her lifelong interest in French cooking. The text is accompanied by intimate and evocative photographs of their lives in Paris and their travels throughout France and the rest of Europe. As one of the early reviews stated, the book is “thoroughly delicious.”

Recently, over an appropriately sumptuous breakfast — with views to match — at River Cafe, Prud’homme recounted his culinary adventures with his extraordinary great-aunt.

Below are edited excerpts of our conversation:

Brooklyn Eagle: What was the genesis of “France is a Feast?”

Alex Prud’homme: Paul and Julia lived in Paris from 1948 until 1954. Paul was the Cultural Attache to the U.S. Embassy, which was a very big, very public job. Julia was this anonymous housewife who became obsessed with French cooking. And, as she put it, she experienced “a flowering of the soul” in the process. She completely fell in love with the French and their food. This obsession led her to co-author in 1961, with Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle, “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.” The book helped to launch the American food revolution which we are still reckoning with today.

Eagle: So on to “France is a Feast…”

AP: In 1969, Paul had this idea of doing his own book, a memoir, which he and Julia referred to as “the France book.” I was a kid at the time and kept hearing their stories about France. But the book never materialized. Meanwhile, I grew up and I became a writer. I would occasionally ask Julia “How’s the France book going?” and she would say [and now Prud’homme assumes that inimitable, distinctive, high-pitched Julia Child voice] “Oh, it’s coming along, dearie.” In December of 2003, the week between Christmas and New Year’s, I made my annual visit to Julia. She had retired to Santa Barbara, which she adored, because it reminded her of province.

Eagle: She was a Californian by birth, correct?

AP: Yes, she had grown up in Pasadena. So when she retired to Santa Barbara she actually was back in touch with the friends she had grown up with. So I asked her “How’s the France book coming?” Now, mind you, by now she was 91, her health was waxing and waning, and she said “Well, it’s not so good, dearie.” I said “Don’t worry, I’m here to help.” She said “Okay then, let’s do it!” I asked her to show me what she’d been writing; I knew she’d been working on it since 1969. She pulls open the bottom drawer of her desk and instead of a manuscript I found neatly organized Manilla envelopes filled with air-mail paper. I instantly realized these were the letters Paul and Julia had written every week from Paris to my grandparents in Pennsylvania. They were filled with fantastic anecdotes and incidents of their lives in Paris. But that was all Julia had regarding the France book. I understood that Julia had been reading through the letters and had the book in her mind, but she hadn’t committed a single word to paper!

Eagle: That must have surprised you!

AP: Well, it meant we had a lot of work to do. We worked together on the book until August of 2004 — her birthday was Aug. 15 — and she died in her sleep on the night of Aug. 13 when we were halfway through the book. We had been planning on having her 92nd birthday party; we had people coming in from all over the country and around the world. The birthday turned into a three-day Irish wake, people laughing, crying, exchanging stories. And then I had to finish the book on my own, which took me another year. It was finally published in 2006. In 2009, the movie “Julie and Julia” was released and that turbocharged the book into many subsequent printings and now the paperback. And it was the impetus for this most recent book “France is a Feast.”

Eagle: Did you always know food was your destiny? Studying it, writing about it, cooking it?

AP: I didn’t always know but I did grow up in a “foodie” family. I was lucky because my mom and all my aunts — of course, including Julia! — were all great cooks.

Eagle: When did you know you wanted to make a career of it?

AP: The summer after I graduated Middlebury College, I took what I thought would be a vacation in Europe and it ended up being almost a yearlong around-the-world trip. That trip solidified my interest in food and cooking. When I returned to the States, I abandoned what I thought would be a career as an architect and became a journalist who wrote about food.

Eagle: What was your first gig?

AP: I was a fact-checker for New York Magazine. I loved it and I loved the world of journalism. So I worked my way up the ladder.

Eagle: Can you remember the first meal you prepared that you actually served to guests?

AP: Yes, I can actually. Although at that time I’d yet to have any formal training, as a teenager I loved to cook. Simple things: pasta, burgers, omelets. My first real culinary accomplishment was a Thanksgiving dinner I made while I was on my around-the-world trip. It was in Japan. I couldn’t get turkey, so I made a Thanksgiving chicken!

Eagle: Necessity is the mother of invention! Final question: Are you encouraging your children to cook?

AP: Very much so. My daughter is a vegetarian so that’s her specialty, while my son is very adventurous and loves to experiment. One of his most famous meals was a garlic shrimp dinner he prepared and served in his dorm room at Bard. I couldn’t be happier that they’ve inherited the foodie gene!

“France is a Feast” is published by Thames & Hudson. For more information go to thamesandhudson.com.