cigalechanta

Her books were never translated into French.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/17/wo..._r=1&ref=world

Pvoyageuse

No, she is not well known (and incidentally the movie is a flop in France).
Why should her books have been translated to French since she adapted French recipes for an American audience?

cigalechanta

I din't say they should, tant pis!

kappa1

> No, she is not well known ..

As Ms. Streep said: “What surprises me is that the French don’t know her at all".. I would say she is not known AT ALL to average French (and European in general). A genuine question, is she that famous in US? I don't know if it's an appropriate comparison but isn't it like the French rock super star Johnny Halliday is little (or not at all) known outside France?

cigalechanta

Yes on her birthday this year, chefs across the country cooked recipes from her books. She had succesful cooking shows that are still repeated.
Johnny Halliday is popular here in Boston. Can't speak for the rest of my country.

StCirq

I would say Julia Child is immensely famous in the USA. Heck, her kitchen's in the Smithsonian.

PatrickLondon

At the time she was writing and making TV programmes, it wouldn't have occurred to many, if any, people of influence in the French media to take any notice of what people were cooking in most other countries, I'd have thought. I doubt if they took much notice of Elizabeth David either. That someone in Britain or in the US was taking the trouble to explain French food culture would probably have been taken as so obvious a need as not to require further investigation.

Palenque

“And when I asked for a three-month-old baby lamb, like you can find here, they thought I was crazy and nearly called the police.”

Hopefully France will become more sensitive to animal welfare, rather than this callous type approach -

flanneruk

"Hopefully France will become more sensitive to animal welfare"

For crying out loud, get a brain.

How can eating a three month old lamb possibly be "less sensitive" than eating a three year old one?

Pvoyageuse

"Hopefully France will become more sensitive to animal welfare, rather than this callous type approach" -

I hope you stopped eating chicken.
Re lamb, when in your opinion does it become acceptable to eat them?

lincasanova

Meryl Streep's talented imitation of Juilia's mannerisms and voice inflections are certainly the high points of this film.

I doubt anyone in Spain will even understand what the big deal is, either, especially since it will be dubbed in 95% of the theaters.

I enjoyed the film but was glad I hadn't dragged my husband to see it.

carolyn

My husband loved the movie, as I did. Local sales of the cookbook went sky high; I might have to buy one myself.

Gretchen

I think the point has already been made--the book was written to explain FRENCH cooking to an American audience. Even when the book first came out, it was unknown in France, and basically the success of Julia was unknown to her co-authors. Julia --and her editor for Knopf, Judith Jones--had an immense impact on AMERICAN cuisine, AMERICAN cooking. It was the days of convenience food, and a book detailing long cooking processes was a difficult sell--it was rejected by two publishing houses.

Gretchen

AND oh for heavens' sake, YES she is well known and an icon of cuisine in America. Surely that was facetious.

ekscrunchy

Johnny Halliday is popular in Boston?

cigalechanta

yes, most French performers sell out. his last film here was very popular and many of us have his Cds

ekscrunchy

What kind of venue does he appear at? I guess my surprise is that at first I thought that you were implying that the "average Bostonian" (whoever that is) has heard of, let alone is a fan of, JH. Oumou Sangare sells out here in NYC, but I would be hard pressed to imply from that that she is very popular in this city. Oh well, any music is good music....well, almost any music!

AnthonyGA

Julia Child isn't that famous in the U.S., especially with younger generations. Many people know who she is—but many other people don't.

Pierre Smet, a/k/a Johnny Hallyday, is completely unknown in the U.S. ... so much so that he had to pay to have his name put on a marquee in Las Vegas so that he could film a video there, as I recall. He is quite a star in France, though, and has been around for decades, such that he is a sort of institution today.

cigalechanta

His films are very popular here(you can Google)
The Last two I believe were Man on a train and Vengeance.
I agree not the average but everyone I know knew who he is
Jane Birkin is another whose performances here were sold out as is Azanvour's everytime he sings here.
Bernard Levy's reading: had to be moved to a bigger location because of the large crowd booked.
The MFA's french film festivals are always a sellout.
I've met here Trouffaut, Gordard, Sandrine Bonnaire, Agnes Varda, Martin Kramitz. I'm lucky living in a Francophile communty. Choclate&Zuccini's Clotilde Desulier visited the French Library where friends and I tasted a few of her dishes and chatted. The list is long of the French who have visied because they know This is a place for them.

Pvoyageuse

Godard is Swiss, Truffaut died in 1984, Kramitz is Karmitz......... and Varda and Bonnaire are alive and well !