"My Life in France"

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Catherine5
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"My Life in France"

Post by Catherine5 »

For fun I thought I would mention this book, a semi-autobiography by Julia Child, who some of us remember watching when very young on TV as "The French Chef", chopping away while explaining breathlessly how to prepare Fondue or Boeuf Bourguignon.

Personally I have little interest in such cooking, but I thought the reminiscences of life in France in the late 1940s and early 50s might be fun to read, as St John Maximovitch was living in that area of Europe around this time.
Reading it, I skipped over the many parts like this:
"Most [Americans] had traveled for years, but did not know how to saute, or cut a vegetable quickly, and had no conception of how to treat an egg yolk properly...."
But what I looked for were clues to what type of person this authoritative figure was. I was struck by the complete absence of any spirituality in this famous American teacher of French cuisine.
I scoured the book hoping for some mention of Gallic Saints, or Cathedrals she visited during her 6 years or so in Paris and Marseille.
Not a word; only a street named for a patroness of France, Ste-Genevieve.
She also spent much time bemoaning her father's firm and vocal anti-Communist views.
So it's disappointing to learn that this major influence on the souls of American audiences, and readers of her "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" - the celebrated book in many families' kitchens, certainly mine, was so uncongenial and even displeasing.
Not only was she a liberal politically who spent much time expressing loathing for Senator McCarthy [he was of course controversial but his heart was in the right place to root out Soviet agents in the US government and academia], she never mentioned God in her life from cradle to almost grave! [The book was worked on right up to the time of her death in 2004.]
So my point maybe is that perhaps bad spirits used her to spread the notion of hedonistic indulgence in supposedly fine food. Because if she had taught elevated, more civilized ways to eat to rather backward North Americans already headed in droves for proto-fast food, PLUS had a spiritual core at her center, that could have been positive. She could have sent the message of the appeal of convivial, elegant meals in a warm circle of family or companions.
But instead the North American public was bidden to "Eat heavy food [all kinds of fatty, unpleasant meat like pork and lamb, with creamy sauces horrible on the digestion!]and you will be la creme de la creme, on par with the sophisticated French".
Plus, because especially children watching people speak on TV readily absorb the person's mentality-- though true of all ages -- I don't think Julia Child was a wholesome influence on American society of the 60s and 70s, as she is usually perceived.
There may be some significance in the last name of her husband. Perhaps it signifes that they were both child-like types thinking only about of the most rudimentary things in life, not ready to take on the spiritual fight for one's salvation!

Better to live an ascetic life could be the inner message of the book, avoiding all the heavy food and drink, and those drastically thick toppings. I grew up with her "hollandaise" sauce. There was almost a shrine to it in the kitchen!
But how I would have preferred there to have been shrines to Saints on the walls with lampadas flickering. That would have brought true comfort to my soul from contact with the Heavenly world. But instead, an entire generation or two was taught to seek food as a focal point of comfort. That may have even led society to food or other addictions. Why is there such an explosion of this problem? While it's hardly all traceable to Julia Child, she may have inadvertently played a certain role by her complete lack of spirituality.

Sidenote: something about her husband, Paul, leaves one feeling unpleasant, despite her best efforts to portray him as appealing.This does not add to the book. Indeed he meets a bad end which perhaps could ahve been avoided by prayer and belief in God. That's my own take on it.

But FAR worse is a bestseller, now movie called "Julie and Julia". I wouldn't recommend wasting a second on either, as the author, a young New Yorker named Julie who cooks up all Julia's recipes, has an appallingly bad consciousness. Atheist and proud of it, very supportive of homosexuals, tacky, cheap.
I recommend Orthodox - unless wild about French cuisine - avoid all the current Julia Child craze.

There was nothing to enlighten me about the world in which St John lived during his time in France at all. He probably ate Chinese food and simple soups, and never once even looked at a 5 course French meal!

Anyone have any comments?

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mmcxristidis
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Re: "My Life in France"

Post by mmcxristidis »

I wonder if they put MSG in that Chinese food ?

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