National Geographic Traveller India – July 2019

FRANCE

JULY 2019 | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA 107

COSMO CONDINA/STOCK CONNECTION/DINODIA PHOTO LIBRARYFACING PAGE:

GUY GILLETTE/SCIENCE SOURCE/DINODIA PHOTO

LIBRARY

(JULIA),

HLPHOTO/SHUTTERSTOCK

(FOOD)

P

op culture has always been

preoccupied with Paris. But

ask a traveller with an appetite,

and they’d point to the lure of

fresh fruit and meat markets, to scented

patisseries and kitchenware shoppes

glinting with carbon steel knives,

and perhaps the promise of aboeuf

bourguignon—à la Julia Child.For

many, there is no Paris without the

American chef, author and television

personality, who believed in a surplus

of butter and laughter.Tracing her

steps recants the great adventure with

French food which hatchedMastering

the Art of French Cooking, co-authored

withfriendsLouisette Bertholle, and

Simone Beck.

RUE DE L’UNIVERSITÉ

Really, the address is81 rue de

l’Universite, and it houses what Julia

once described as “aclassic Parisian

building” with a “grey cement facade,

a grand front door”—this post-World

War II home with husband Paul Child

summed up as “a bit weird” in inimitable

JC style. She nicknamed it “Roo de Loo,”

something one can imagine her saying

out loud in the sparkling sing-song voice

that delighted viewers on PBS. A stroll

around the Left Bank neighbourhood

will charm your inner flâneur.

RUE CLER MARKET

About a 15-minute walk from Roo De

Loo is the Rue Cler Market, its popping

bazaar-colours sprinkled across the

city’sseventharrondissement. Speciality

shops hemmed by glass windows,

cobblestone alley and French produce in

bursts of red, green or yellow—Rue Cler

looks the part of Julia’s trusted stock-up

haunt. Playing Alice might lead you to a

wonderland ofBrie, Brillat-Savarin and

CamembertcheesesatLa Fromagerie,

“Oh, la belle

France—without

knowing it, I was

already falling

in love!”

Rue Cler brims with fresh

produce, boucheries and

patisseries that caught

Julia Child’s fancy.

FRANCE

Paris

todelicatessens heaving with cold

meat, breads and (more) cheese, or to

sherbets and caramel butter ice creams

atMartine Lambert.

E. DEHILLERIN

Since 1820, E. Dehillerinhas been the

holy grail for those who take their

meat saws and mandolines seriously,

its wizened aisles combed daily by

connoisseurs of pestles and paella pans.

It is here, at 18 et 20 rue Coquillière, that

Julia came to arm her kitchen as she

polished her culinary skills atLe

Cordon Bleu.

LES DEUX MAGOTS CAFÉ

Blow on a pitcher of blazingchocolat