Backstage with Julia: My Years with Julia Child
You’ll love this intimate portrait of the inimitable Julia Child by Nancy Verde Barr, her executive chef and friend for twenty-four years. Brimming with anecdotes, memorabilia, and snapshots, Backstage with Julia conveys Julia’s generosity, her boundless energy, and her love of food and life. This loving memoir celebrates the adventurous, unassuming essence of the chef who seasoned American palates and heightened our appreciation of food.
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In 1980, Nancy Verde Barr was drafted to help organize a Julia Child cooking demonstration in Providence, Rhode Island. Barr immediately hit it off with Julia, setting the stage for a relationship that would last twenty-four years—and transform Barr's personal and professional life forever. Now, in this engaging memoir, Barr takes a fond look back at her years with Julia. At the time Barr joined Julia's team, Julia had long been a celebrity. But as Barr soon realized, Julia didn't act like a celebrity. Julia in real life was the same Julia everyone saw on screen—dedicated to the art of cooking, brimming with energy, and full of fun—only more so. Whether flirting with Charlie Gibson on Good Morning America, lighting biscotti wrappers on fire at an Italian restaurant, or stopping for a hot dog at ten o'clock in the morning ("Why not?"), Julia was the life of the party—and she invited everyone around her to join in the fun. As Barr took on more and more work with Julia, she became not only a colleague, but a friend. Barr takes us along as she helps orchestrate television tapings, food photo shoots, and live demonstrations—and marvels at Julia's unflagging energy (no one was allowed to utter the "t" word—"tired"), her wide-ranging curiosity, and her special knack for getting past flubs and setbacks. We meet Julia's beloved husband, Paul, and their extended family of siblings, nieces, and friends, and see what it was really like to have dinner at Julia's (hint: you were required to help cook). And we vacation with Julia in Venice, discovering her mixed feelings about Italian food (she never quite saw the point of pasta). Brimming with stories, anecdotes, and snapshots, Backstage with Julia captures the essence of Julia Child—her generosity, her high spirits, and her openness to new ideas and adventures. It's a loving portrait of a woman who changed the way Americans thought about food and brightened the lives of everyone who knew her. The New York Times - Dorothy Kalins Backstage with Julia is packed with endearing anecdotes…
Acknowledgments. Preface. Chapter 1. Chapter 2. Chapter 3. Chapter 4. Chapter 5. Chapter 6. Chapter 7. Chapter 8. Chapter 9. Chapter 10. Postscript. Resources. Index
\ Dorothy KalinsBackstage with Julia is packed with endearing anecdotes…\ —The New York Times\ \ \ \ \ Publishers WeeklyBarr (We Called It Macaroni) worked with culinary icon Julia Child for 24 years, starting in 1980 as an assistant to Child's monthly live segment on Good Morning Americaand remaining until Child's death in 2004. This delightful and sprightly backstage look at life with Child (a "Lucille Ball-with-a-rolling-pin character in the kitchen") describes Barr's work as an integral member of "the Julia team" that supported Child's "mind-boggling" schedule of demonstrations, media appearances and book signings. Barr skillfully illustrates Child's "extraordinary drive" in business, showing how "she never took her success or her audiences' acceptance of her work for granted," and how throughout her many ventures, "she maintained the integrity of what she was doing—teaching cooking." A delightful description of a day when the pair "gobbled down Double-Double burgers at the In-N-Out drive thru" illustrates how Child was "as down-to-earth, unguarded, and unselfconsciously outspoken in the company of friends as she was with the cameras rolling." By concentrating on the "memories of the Julia who was my mentor, my colleague, my friend; my story of what made her so special," Barr provides a sweet addition to Noel Riley Fitch's biography Appetite for Lifeand, recently, Child's autobiography with Alex Prud'Homme, My Life in France. (June)\ Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information\ \
