Mastering the Art of French Cooking – Introduction

Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child deserves its place in every food lover’s collection. The recipes are written with rare precision and make no concessions to the “quick and easy” brigade or the “low-fat, low-flavour” movement.

Julia Child was born in Pasadena, California in 1912. During the Second World War she served in the Office of Strategic Services in Sri Lanka and China where she met her future husband Paul Child.

After the war her husband was stationed at the American Embassy in Paris and it was here that Julia developed her passion for French food and cooking that was to remain with her for the rest of her long life.

Mastering the Art of French Cooking – The Book

In 1961 she published her first book Mastering the Art of French Cooking with Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle.

As a result of the publicity and acceptance of the book in 1963 she began her first television series, The French Chef.

She hosted many other television series and wrote many other books. Her influence of American home cooking was profound

Julia Child was one of the best known figures of the food industry long before the current rash of celebrity chefs began to crowd our TV screens.

She was a passionate promoter of French cuisine but also understood many others due to her time in Sri Lanka, China and other exotic locations.

Although she lived in Cambridge she was fortunate enough to maintain a house in Provence where she gained her inspiration.

This is an important book that is as relevant today as it was when she first wrote it. It is one of the entries in our Foodtourist Top Fifty Cookbooks.

There is a good summary of the life of Julia Child written as an obituary in The Guardian under the headline:

Julia Child – American TV chef, renowned for her book Mastering the Art of French Cooking

You can buy Mastering the Art of French Cooking by clicking on the link below. We receive a small percentage of the sale which goes towards maintaining this site.