Julia & Minette
Aug. 15 marked the 100th birthday of culinary icon Julia Child and restaurants throughout the city have been celebrating with a special restaurant week.
Now, kids can learn all about the iconic chef and TV star, too.
A recently released picture book, “Minette’s Feast” by Susanna Reich, stars Child and her adorable mouse-loving cat, Minette.
Illustrated by Amy Bates, the colorful, bilingual picture book — it’s in both French and English — follows the well-fed cat who lived with Child in Paris.
In the book, Child tries to tempt her French feline with delicious treats from the city’s markets, but her “poussie-quette” prefers to catch her own birds and mice. “My readers have probably never heard of Julia Child,” says Reich. “Will they be interested in French food? Maybe, maybe not. But you know they’re going to be interested in animals.”
Minette certainly does go on a lot of adventures. She perfects her hunting skills by chasing a brussels sprout on a string, and eventually samples some of her owner’s worldfamous
A picture book introduces kids to Julia Child (and her playful cat)
cooking. But the book isn’t just about Minette. Reich writes about Child’s beginnings as a chef, from her initial experiments in French cooking, to studying under the tutelage of chef Max Bugnard at Le Cordon Bleu, one of the world’s largest cooking schools.
Reich, an avid cook herself, has loved Child since she was a kid, and grew up watching her cooking shows.
She first met Child during the chef’s 80th birthday celebration at the Rainbow Room, formerly at Rockefeller Center, a day she will never forget. Working as a florist at the time, Reich had designed the centerpieces at the celebration. She suggested the perfect birthday present for Child: a 4-foot-long whisk adorned with roses and pearls.
“She really changed the way Americans eat. She started a food revolution,” says Reich. “When I met her she was just like she is on television — funny, down to earth. It was like talking to someone you knew.”
Reich pored over Child’s memoir and letters — the chef died in 2004 at 91 — to painstakingly research every story that went into “Minette’s Feast.”
Although the picture book is for younger readers, Reich says adult foodies and Child fans will appreciate the whimsical biography, accurate down to the smallest details.
She remembers that she found the exact model and color of Child’s car, and had Bates copy it from a photograph.
One of Reich’s favorite little touches in the book is a drawing of Child sleeping with her feet hanging over the bed, an amusing reminder of Child’s 6-foot-2 stature.
For Reich, who is working on her next book, “Fab Four Friends,” about the Beatles, celebrating the legacy of Julia Child is simple and starts with her recipes.
“I think I will probably stay home and cook her coq au vin and mousse au chocolate,” she says.
jfantozzi@nydailynews.com
Meet Susanna Reich at a book signing on Sept. 1 at 11 a.m. Greenlight Bookstore, 686 Fulton St., Brooklyn. (718) 246-0200.