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Child has by no means severed connections with France. She and Husband Paul, 81, her "officially unofficial" photographer, spend several months most years at their house in the Alpes-Maritimes. But as between the U.S. and France, she observes, "the French just don't have educated young people going into the restaurant business. And peasants would rather go into auto factories." Noting the number of college-level cooking and restaurant schools that have sprung up in the U.S., she says quietly, "I think America is going to win out." In home cooking, too, she maintains, Americans may have the edge: "The middle-class French just won't cook."
When the new series has been completed, Julia plans to serve up another book, tentatively titled The Way to Cook. It will contain recipes from Dinner as well as from the monthly column for Parade magazine that she has been writing since 1981. Her formulations for both show and book will be for fairly advanced cooks. "We will not," she vows, "be chopping onions." The recipes, says an associate, "are as exciting as ever. Julia is still the idea woman." Meanwhile, shooting is on time and on budget, which is as much as anyone could ask of a real-life dinner by Julia. —By Michael Demarest