Alimentum - As Always Julia

As Always, Julia:
The Letters of Julia Child and Avis De Voto
edited by Joan Reardon
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, December 2010
Hardcover: 432 pages
ISBN: 978-0547417714

Watching Mad Men, I was always skeptical of Don and company’s booze-drenched dinner parties, where hostesses served casseroles and jellied ham dotted with fruit and whipped cream. The writers have to be taking creative license, I thought. They’re making an exaggerated, comedic portrayal of dismal mid-century American cuisine. Right? Wrong. The writers of Mad Men must have read As Always, Julia, a compilation of letters written between Julia Child and Avis de Voto.

In one of their first exchanges, on January 4, 1953, Avis complains about dinner parties in America: “There isn’t one casserole in a hundred that is fit to eat. But because everybody wants to sit around and drink cocktails in a convivial fashion, and because the cook doesn’t want to miss the fun, nine times out of ten we wind up with a casserole.”

With not much more than cocktails, casseroles, and crudités being served in American homes, it’s no exaggeration to say that at the time that Julia wrote Mastering the Art of French Cooking, things were dire. Shallots, sharp knives, and quality home cooking were all but absent from the United States. Writing from her more gastronomically-advanced home in Europe, Julia wasn’t sure how much American housewives knew, or were willing to learn. As a result she relied on her friend and editor Avis de Voto to be her cultural touchstone. Their exchanges, though sincere at the time, are comical in retrospect. Avis sent Julia notes on her drafts such as, “Page 5-cleaning eggs. Wire wool—What do you mean? First place we never have eggs that are dirty.”

Julia was often frustrated, but she continued to champion French food and wine, determined to bring the same level of quality to the U.S. In fact, what makes the letters so enjoyable to read is Julia’s good humor, even in the face of set-backs: “Have just been re-reading your last, about shallots etc. That is just too bad and complicates things. How about us going into the business, the DeVoto/Child Shallot Packing Co. Inc...built on the un-American principal of not trying to make money, just on not losing it.”

The writing from both women is vivid and engaging—a real tribute to the lost art of the letter. Avis and Julia touch on every subject from culture, to politics, to gastronomy. But, most of all, this book gives the reader an intimate look at how a great cookbook, and a great friendship was formed. As Julia wrote after her visit to Avis in Cambridge, “We miss you terribly. It doesn’t seem at all possible that less than two weeks ago you were all of you but words on paper. It did not then seem that love on paper would not blossom into love in the flesh, and it certainly did with an all-embracing bang.”

Watching Mad Men is fascinating because we notice every little contrast between their world and ours. Reading the letters between Julia and Avis creates the same effect: I can’t believe frozen food was a novelty! How could Mastering the Art of French Cooking have been rejected by publishers multiple times!? Coupled with the women’s sharp wit and obvious mutual affection, this is a fascinating read that will make you reach thankfully for your mozzarella sandwich and your glass of Pinot Noir.

October 17, 2011