If there’s one thing the ‘Julie & Julia’ movie and book hype has done, it’s to make France and things French pretty cool again here in the U.S. Sales of Julia’s book Mastering the Art of French Cooking are going through the roof. Julia-themed French dinners are popping up in restaurants all over the country. Cooking too is hip once more, particularly French cooking.
It’s a welcome change from the frosty Franco-American relations in the aftermath of 9/11 and the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Almost overnight, France became the ‘country non grata’ to many Americans. This reaction led to “freedom fries” and the purging of many a wine cellar of its French wines. I wonder if Julia knows she’s helped America fall back in love with France?
As her heyday was (unfortunately) before my time, I have come to know Julia through her cooking volumes, DVDs of The French Chef and other books such as her autobiography My Life in France. But what made her real to me was a visit three or four years ago to her former home in the south of France, la Pitchoune.
Meaning “the little thing,” la Pitchoune, or “la Peetch” as she and her husband Paul nicknamed it, is located in the hills near the village of Grasse. As she wrote in My Life in France:
“The little house was just as we’d dreamed it would be: tan stucco walls, red-tiled roof, two chimneys, wooden shutters, and a stone terrace…La Peetch was set into a hill that had been terraced with low stone berms and was studded with olive trees, almond trees, and lavender bushes. The top of the driveway was just big enough to turn around a compact French car in…A spreading mulberry tree hung over the terrace…And we partially renovated a small stone shepherd’s hut, the ‘cabanon’ to use as a combination wine ‘cave’ / painting studio / guest room.”
Today, la Pitchoune is home to the culinary school Cooking with Friends in France run by American Kathie Alex. My visit to “la Peetch” coincided with a business trip to nearby Nice. I was invited to dinner by a business colleague’s wife who was spending the week cooking with Kathie. I jumped at the chance to enjoy an evening of good food and company—and also to see Julia’s unassuming southern France kitchen where she worked on many of the recipes for Mastering the Art of French Cooking.
While it was touching to walk in her footsteps, most memorable was the sight of Julia’s kitchen wall where Paul had mounted her signature pegboard and outlined her pots, pans and utensils with a black marker. It was wonderfully retro and immediate at the same time.
Now that Julia is back in the mainstream again, I treasure even more my tangible brush with her love of France and French cuisine. And although good cooking—French or otherwise—won’t resolve the current economic crisis, difficult wars, religious divides, education issues, or healthcare woes, it is honest and soulful and essential (everyone has to eat). Perhaps most important, it creates connection and community around the table. Cheers, Julia!
