I can not believe that another year is nearly ended. I hope everyone had a great holiday season and that the new year is a good one. I know it will be a good one for reading.
But first, let's have a few of the final books for the year.
Like to eat? Like to cook? Like to watch cooking shows? I collect cook book and have watched cooking shows for years. Remember the Galloping Gourmet? The Frugal Gourmet? Fort Wayne's own Marcia Adams with her series on PBS? Probably some of the favorite shows I watched were hosted by the redoubtable Julia Childs. She fascinated me. With her cooking style. With her personality. And she definitely had lived a fascinating life. I have her cookbooks as well as a books of her life. But this latest book I read featured the correspondence she had with Avis DeVoto, wife of the writer Bernard DeVoto. It kept me enthralled.
AS ALWAYS, JULIA, THE LETTERS OF JULIA CHILD & AVIS DEVOTO,edited by Joan Reardon (Houghton Miflin Harcourt, 978-0-547-417 begins in 1952 71-4), begins in 19352 when Child read an essay by Bernard DeVoto on American knives and writes him a letter. Avis is in charge of her husband's mail, answers her. And so begins a friendship and letter writing exchange that provides an intriguing look into the lives of these two couples as well as an accidental but open look at the cultural and political climate of the times. The letters chronicle the life Julia is leading in France with her husband and government employee Paul. She is involved in learning the intricacies of French cuisine and cooking as well as teaching and writing a cook book. Avis is raising a family, working with her husband and being a busy American women. I found the book compelling because I recall that era well. DeVoto and Childs were, if you will, at the end of the era in that they were married and years older than I. I was at the beginning of the era. Just out of university with my first job. Single. And I was entering the political climate they were discussing. I did not know Childs or DeVoto, but I was a reader of Harper's Magazine and I had read some of Bernard DeVoto's columns and books. I also was concerned with the era of McCarthy. When I read this book, it gave me a bittersweet feeling of deja vu. It was a time of innocence and yet palpable distrust. At that time we were more interested in TV dinners, I fear, that haute cuisine for all. But Joan Reardon in her editing of these letters,has brought these two women out of the past and into our present. We may have read or heard these tales in general before, But here, the minutiae of the day to day living is fun to read. It seems like only yesterday that this was occurring, But it was 5o years ago.. Food availability now is amazing when we look back and see how difficult it was then to acquire foodstuffs that we see at our regular supermarkets as standard now. They discussed family life, foods available to purchase, work. They also discussed politics, elections, writing, and publishing. Nothing escaped their discussions. Even what they read and ate were worthy topics. These letters are a cultural as well as a culinary look at other times and other lives. Think about it. This entire correspondence was done by mail. Granted, a lot of airmail, but real mail. Today it would be email, text messages, cell, or a live feed of some sort. Fifty years makes a difference. This book will delight fans of Julia Child and be of interest to anyone who remembers that era of time. It is witty and worldly and filled with allusions to events that may well induce you to find out more by delving into books or checking the Internet, I highly recommend this to foodies, fans of Child, and people who recall this era as a part of their lives. Or anyone who likes to read a well done book. Bon appetit...as Julia always said....and Good reading!..as I say.
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