My fascination with Julia Child

My fascination and obsession with Julia Child started with watching the movie, “Julie & Julia”. From the first scene onwards, I realised that the movie was special and did not want to take my eyes or attention away from the screen.  It was a delectable experience. Seldom did I know that I would be watching this movie numerous times. What attracted me first was the beautiful countryside of France and the elegant and majestic Paris, as Julia Child and her husband Paul Child drove to their new accommodation in Paris on their arrival from the States.  Within the first ten minutes of the movie, you are introduced to the French cuisine and how Julia and Paul enjoy the buttery, beautiful and very delicious French preparations. Julia was played by the most talented Meryl Streep and Paul was brought to life by Stanley Tucci. You discover Paris through the eyes and heart of Julia Child.  Shopping in the market, buying cheese, tasting juicy pears, checking pans and talking incessantly with the merchants, bakers and vegetable vendors in her broken French, she transports you to Paris of the 1940s and 50s.  Her congeniality wins over her handicap with the language. In one of his many letters to his cousin residing in the United States,  Paul wrote that the  famously rude French were described as very  friendly and joyful  people by Julia. He felt, she brought out the best in them. 

Julia's tryst with France

Julia slowly found what she loved. She was enamoured by the French cuisine. She wanted to learn more.  In the 1950s, she joined a school to learn cooking. She went to “Cordon Bleu”,  one of the best culinary schools  in the world.  To her disappointment, she  found the lessons for housewives ordinary and boring.  She fought her way to the more serious, professional cooking course. This was an all male class room, they were getting trained to be professional cooks and treated her like a misfit in that classroom. Well, they couldn’t ignore Julia Child. Her competitive spirit, talent and hunger for learning the artful and delicious french cuisine made her almost the leader of that classroom. If you have not yet watched the movie, I urge you to watch how the interesting life of Julia Child comes alive in the screen.  A chance encounter with two french women, Louisette and Simca, she starts her career in cooking. This time with a book!  The movie takes you through the journey of planning the book, its evolution and how they teach  Americans living in Paris, some authentic French cooking. This transition or transformation in Julia’s life is the most interesting, hilarious and the beautiful part of the movie for me. By the time, the book, “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” got published, Julia Child had  found the purpose of her ife. Her ikigai! I was enchanted by her journey, how she chose a career that she was so passionate about.  Her journey was her most rewarding experience. 

Julie Powell: The joyful other half of the movie

When I watched the movie for the first time, I had no clue about the real Julia Child. I was awed by Meryl  Streep who is a living legend, I became fond of Paul Child, played to perfection by Stanley Tucci and was deeply connected to the beautiful blogger cum cooking enthusiast Julie Powell played by Amy Adams and her husband Eric. As a Mumbaite who has traveled in suburban trains, and worked boring jobs I could connect with Amy Adams' frustration with her monotonous life, her boring commutes and almost inconsequential life filled with boastful and shallow female friends. She resurrects herself as a writer by starting a blog. Ably supported by her loving husband, she starts blogging her way though Julia  Child’s 524 recipes from her book. What I watched was again a real life, a life filled with routine, boredom, disappointments, self-pity, love, friendship, soulful writing,  crunchy bruschetta ,cakes and  the  cycle of ups and downs. The triumph and the failures made it look so real to me. It reminded me of my confusions, my helplessness in a crowded and busy city, loneliness of not knowing where life was taking me and also the joyful companionship of a loving husband and the pleasure of great hobbies. 

The movie played a magic on me, how? 

I watched the movie again and again. I watched Julia Child’s cookery show, The French Chef in Youtube. I watched her in almost all the popular shows of those times including David Letterman’s show. I always felt or rather feel that I know Julia Child. I know her journey. I had read her book,  "My Life in France" co authored with Paul Child’s nephew. I knew about her life as she told it. I am quite fond of Paul Child too. Once a student of mine asked about my husband. He wanted to know about my family. I told him, ours is a relationship almost comparable to that between Julia and Paul Child. Paul was excited about anything Julia wanted to do or engage in. He supported her, indulged her and was  most enthusiastic about anything she did. That is exactly what my husband Venkatesh is all about. Always a step ahead of me in all my endeavours, the most supporting husband and the most indulging friend. In the movie, Julie Powell talks about how she and Julia have the best husbands and I tell them both, make that three, my husband is loving, indulging and supporting too.  Hey, this movie is a personal one for me. 

                                                     Julia with Paul Child 

Julia Child: My Mentor 

I loved the fact that Julia worked in the secret services (today’s CIA). She was a file clerk who was privy to some of the most classified information  during the World War II.  She was posted in Sri Lanka and China during the war.  She got married in her thirties, a rarity at that time.  She met Paul Child in Sri Lanka, he was working in the Secret Service too.  Both were not spies. Julia Child is the quintessential independent woman to me. She was independent in every way. She was educated, she worked, she earned a living, she drove around and did not need a chauffeur to  take her around, she could type, go to the bank, she could take part in a conversation whether it was about politics or art, she was never intimidated by men, she had strong  political opinions and stood her ground. Pretty much everything, an empowered woman should  be. She used her time well. Something housewives are accused of being imperfect at.  In ‘"My Life in France”, Julia wrote about how she spent her day while writing her book. In the  morning, she shopped for butter, meat, vegetables and groceries in the markets in Paris.She also finished her cooking in the mornings.  Afternoons were spent in trying recipes and writing them down, in short, she was  working on her book.  Evenings were for leisure and rest. I loved the way in which she wrote about her failures too. The  manuscript was rejected a couple of times, she bettered it every time. She had to leave Paris as the bosses were hostile to Paul Child.  Finally, “ Mastering the Art of French Cooking” saw the light of the day.  As a promotion for the book, she got invited to a Television show. Guess what, she got an offer to do her own cookery show after this interview.   It  started her career in Television and  her celebrityhood. Both Paul and Julia lived to their nineties. Paul died in 1994 and Julia in 2004. The movie “Julie and Julia” was released in 2009. I am most thankful to the makers of “Julie & Julia” for bringing  the most enchanting Julia Child to my life.  I always remember her unique way of saying, “Bon Appetite”. Cheers to the future screenings of “Julie & Julia” in my drawing room in suburban Mumbai!