Alex Prud’homme has been a nonfiction writer for thirty years. As a journalist he has covered a wide range of subjects for publications such as The New York Times, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair and Time. As an author, he has written eight books, on subjects ranging from terrorism to biotech, fresh water, and food.
Prud’homme is best known for co-writing Julia Child’s 2006 memoir My Life in France, which became a #1 NYT best-seller and inspired half of “Julie & Julia.” His sequel, The French Chef in America, was published in 2016. His book of Paul Child’s photographs, France is a Feast: the Photographic Journey of Paul and Julia Child, was published in 2017 and led to a photo show at the Napa Valley Museum, in Yountville, CA. In February 2022, Boyd’s Mills & Kane will publish his illustrated children’s biography, Born Hungry: Julia Child Becomes “The French Chef.”
In the Spring of 2022, Alfred A. Knopf will publish Prud’homme’s as-yet-untitled narrative history of presidential food. From George Washington facing starvation at Valley Forge in 1777 to Donald Trump’s burgers and Kamala Harris’s masala dosas, the book looks at the American story through a culinary lense. How did we get from there (hoecakes and squirrel stew) to here (jellybeans, kale and the obesity crisis)? What does that arc tell us about our leaders as individuals with sometimes quirky tastes, the role of the White House and its food policies, and how the nation’s diet reflects its evolution? The book will include recipes and illustrations.