The Rural We: Alex Prud’homme
“I don’t like being stuck in a box,” says Alex Prud’homme, which may explain why he’s written about national affairs, crime, terrorism and security, and a passel of disparate subjects for every big name magazine you can think of, as well as many books on similarly varied topics. “But,” he admits, “I have written quite a bit about food.” Indeed, as grandnephew of Julia Child (his grandfather is the twin brother of Paul Child, Julia’s husband), he co-wrote Julia’s memoir, "My Life in France." Recently, he published his first book for children, "Born Hungry," which tells the beginning of Julia’s story, vibrantly illustrated by Sarah Green. Prud’homme, who says his connection with Cornwall, Connecticut has been an important part of his life, will be signing his new book at an event sponsored by The Wish House in West Cornwall on May 28 from 3-5 p.m.
My family had a lot of friends with houses in Cornwall and I spent a lot of weekends and summers there. My parents have retired to a farmhouse near Cream Hill Lake.
I grew up in a foodie family. My first memory of Julia was watching her on a little tiny black and white TV. Paul and Julia never had kids of their own, so they treated us as surrogate grandchildren. I would spend time with them at their home in Cambridge or in New York City. They came to Cornwall for Thanksgiving a couple of times. Julia never really gave us cooking lessons per se, but by osmosis we would learn. She’d put everybody to work. We’d all cook together, eat together, clean up together. She made it fun. The Julia you saw on TV was the Julia I knew in person.
I’ve often thought she would make a good subject for a kids book — she was so generous and warm. But she was also an educator; she thought of herself as a teacher and a student. She was a big, loud, colorful person who loved kids and being around people and cooking. The book talks about Julia growing up, how she didn’t learn to cook until she went to France in 1948, how she fell in love with French food, learned how to market like a real French person, and developed a palate. There’s a surprise at the end of the book: a recipe for scrambled eggs done the French way, so kids can learn a little bit of technique.
I’m working on another book focusing on food, a history of presidential food that includes 22 presidents from George Washington to Joe Biden. It’s about the food of politics and the politics of food. I’m looking to find the most compelling and educational stories that relate to food and presidents — their personal tastes, how much influence the first ladies had, how those personal tastes influence policy. These are hot-button subjects just now, and a way of looking at American history through the things we eat and the way we use our bully pulpit around the world, foodwise.
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