Julia Childs? Totally not vegan. But I can't help but love her. She was such a character, in real life and on TV. She cared a lot about food and friends and I can't help but admire the love and friendship she shared with her husband Paul. As Julia herself says:
"People who love to eat are always the best people."This book is a collection of letters between Julia and Avis DeVoto, a book reviewer and editor. Their correspondence started when, in response to an article by DeVoto's husband about the deplorable state of knives available to the American Housewife™, Julia sent the DeVotos a letter and a classic French knife. Avis answered the letter, and a friendship was formed. Avis would turn out to be instrumental in getting The Art of French Cooking published and turned into the classic cookbook America knows today.
Aside from the sharing of many very non-vegan recipes, there's lots of interesting talk about quality kitchen knives, the complete unavailability of shallots in America, the publishing industry, 1950's politics (both women were dedicated Democrats and abhorred the now infamous McCarthy), and the ridiculously long list of famous people Avis and her husband hung out with at parties.
In the end, the book is just their letters back and forth, so events happen in real time--that is, slowly. So I don't feel bad putting this down without seeing an ending--it's worth the read just to hear these women's voices.
I probably wouldn't recommend this right off the bat; if you're interested in reading Julia Childs, her autobiography My Life in France is a better place to start.
Word count: 18,000 words, so 9,000 points
Kristie's total points: 483,748
