Coincidentally food writers MFK Fisher, Julia Child, James Beard, Simone Beck, Richard Olney and the editor Judith Jones found themselves in the south of France in December, 1970. They were all known to each other, and in some cases were good friends and collaborators on various projects.
The very American Julia Child and the very French Simone Beck ("Simca") met in Paris in 1949. Over many years they worked together and co-authored Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vols. I and II. The wonderful 2009 movie Julie and Julia tells part of this story. Each had country houses in Provence, near Cannes. Child's "La Pitchoune" was located on Beck's estate. They were both there with their husbands for the holidays in December, 1970. Fisher, Beard, Jones, and Olney were also in the area. Olney lived year around near Toulon, about two hours west of Cannes.
La Pitchoune
From the back cover blurb:
Provence, 1970 is about a singular historic moment when six iconic culinary figures -- including Julia Child, James Beard, and M.F.K. Fisher -- found themselves together in the South of France. They cooked and ate and talked late into the night about the future of food in America, the meaning of taste, and the limits of snobbery. Drawing in large part from M.F.K. Fisher's detailed journals and letters, her grandnephew Luke Barr has recreated what was in retrospect a key turning point -- when the democratization of cooking and taste became part of the national conversation in America. His dramatic retelling of those weeks in the scenic hills above the Cote d'Azur traces the beginnings of a modern American food culture and how, without quite realizing it, these players changed the course of culinary history to reshape the way we eat now."
Soon after, a new figure in American food culture appeared, Alice Waters.
"...Waters and her generation of cooks had found a new idiom, an entirely original continuation of the legacy of the winter of 1970, a modern art of American eating.
It made a certain, perfect sense that Waters had embraced both Olney and M.F., as different as they were. For Waters, avatar of the new American cooking, was rooted both immediately as a cook in Olney's bohemian purism, and culturally in M.F.'s groundbreaking literary sensuality. Cooking was for Waters about more than food, it was a philosophy..."
And, as we all know, the rest is history. Fresh organic produce from local farmer's markets, home cooking from scratch, growing our own food and making our own bread have become the norm for many many
Americans. What started as a glimmer in the eye of those six Americans in Provence in 1970 has become a new way of life all over this country.
Americans. What started as a glimmer in the eye of those six Americans in Provence in 1970 has become a new way of life all over this country.
Thank you very much.
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