The French Chef in America, Alex Prudhomme
The French Chef in America, Alex Prudhomme
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The French Chef in America
Julia Child's Second Act

Author: Alex Prud'homme

Narrator: Alex Prud'homme

Unabridged: 10 hr 53 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/04/2016

Synopsis

The enchanting story of Julia Child's years as TV personality and beloved cookbook author--a sequel in spirit to My Life in France--by her great-nephew

Julia Child is synonymous with French cooking, but her legacy runs much deeper. Now, her great-nephew and My Life in France coauthor vividly recounts the myriad ways in which she profoundly shaped how we eat today. He shows us Child in the aftermath of the publication of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, suddenly finding herself America's first lady of French food and under considerable pressure to embrace her new mantle. We see her dealing with difficult colleagues and the challenges of fame, ultimately using her newfound celebrity to create what would become a totally new type of food television. Every bit as entertaining, inspiring, and delectable as My Life in France, The French Chef in America uncovers Julia Child beyond her "French chef" persona and reveals her second act to have been as groundbreaking and adventurous as her first.

About The Author

ALEX PRUD'HOMME is Julia Child's great-nephew and the coauthor of her autobiography, My Life in France, which was adapted into the movie Julie & Julia. He is also the author of The Ripple Effect: The Fate of Freshwater in the Twenty-First Century, Hydrofracking: What Everyone Needs to Know, and The Cell Game, and he is the coauthor (with Michael Cherkasky) of Forewarned: Why the Government Is Failing to Protect Us--and What We Must Do to Protect Ourselves. Prud'homme's journalism has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Time, and People.

Reviews

Goodreads review by TraceyL on July 29, 2021

A biography of Julia Child's later years. Like the previous book My Life in France, there is a lot of detail in here. Some of it was interesting to me, but some of it was unnecessary and it dragged on a bit.......more

Goodreads review by Abby on July 04, 2017

I found this book so fascinating! Of course I knew who Julia Child was before reading this book, but I don't think I understood what a profound effect she had on American cooking and food culture. It's gotten me interested in reading and owning some of Julia Child's cookbooks and watching The French......more

Goodreads review by Biblio on August 10, 2016

I don't know why I should enjoy reading about Julia Child (I don't cook and have no plans to start), but I do. One of my favorite books about her is Alex Prud'homme's previous book with Julia, My Life in France, about Julia's early life and her memories of living and visiting France. The French Chef......more

Goodreads review by Baylee on February 12, 2023

This was pretty good. Not quite as good as My Life in France, that one was definitely better than this one. This book got a little slow at times, and it felt a little all over the place at times too. But I was wanting to learn about the rest of Julia’s life after My Life in France ended & this book......more

Goodreads review by Cara on January 02, 2021

I agree with the book jacket. It is impossible not to love Julia Child. I am going to cook from one of her books in 2021. Not only does the book inspire to eat better, but she was someone that “lived” all the years of her life. She lived as she cooked; with enthusiasm and gusto.......more

Quotes

Praise for My Life in France:
"Lively, infectious.... [The] elegant but unfussy prose pulls the reader into her stories" -- Chicago Sun-Times
"Captivating.... [Child's] marvelously distinctive voice is present on every page" --San Francisco Chronicle
"Delightful and ebulliently written.... [Child's] joy just about jumps off the book's pages." 
--Christian Science Monitor
“A delight. On one level, it’s the story of how a ‘six-foot-two-inch, thirty-six-year-old, rather loud and unserious Californian’—her words—discovered the fullness of life in France. On another, it recounts the making of ‘Julia Child’, America’s grande dame of French cooking. Inevitably, the stories overlap.” --Alan Riding, The New York Times Book Review
“Charming and affectionate.” --Colman Andrews, The Wall Street Journal
“An engaging, endearing love letter to the country Julia regarded as her ‘spiritual homeland’… Written by Julia Child’s grandnephew, Alex Prud’homme… [A] highly readable posthumous memoir that chronicles not only her discovery of the culinary glories of postwar France but also her transformation into a confident chef, teacher, and ultimately apostle of French cooking to millions of Americans.” --Mackenzie Carpenter, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“Inspiring.” --Jennifer Rose, Entertainment Weekly
“A luscious combination of culinary adventure, love story, and memoir… Gives readers a true taste for the woman behind the recipes.” --Heather Grimshaw, The Denver Post
“Captivating… My Life In France captures the essence of Julia Child.” --Martin Rubin, San Francisco Chronicle

Praise for The French Chef in America:
"Intricately and intriguingly detailed . . . delicious." --Mimi Sheraton, The Daily Beast
"[An] opportunity to lap up the timeless kitchen wisdom of one of the world's greatest cooking teachers." --Penny Pleasance, NY Journal of Books
"Relive the moment that Julia Child became an American icon." --Boston Globe
"Highlights flavors and philosophies that fueled [Julia Child's] style of cooking, the legacy of which would go on to change and shape the way we eat today." --Nylon

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