Book editor Judith Jones may be the one to blame for the multitude of mustards and cooking oils cluttering your pantry, said Julia Moskin in The New York Times. Half a century ago—not long after plucking The Diary of Anne Frank out of a rejection pile—Jones took a chance on then-unknown Julia Child. The Pasadena, Calif., culinary enthusiast and her two co-authors were getting no nibbles on their lengthy manuscript about French cooking. Jones, who’d just returned to America after a decade in Paris, didn’t just share Child’s passion. She cared so much about getting the recipes right that she became a regular in Child’s kitchen, working with her until the manuscript sang. Mastering the Art of French Cooking launched “a revolution in American taste,” and Jones was just getting started.
Jones’ new memoir, The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food, recounts the midwife role she has played in filling America’s cookbook shelves with such masters as Child, Marion Cunningham, Marcella Hazan, Claudia Roden, and Edna Lewis. Sixty years into her storied career, Jones remains, at 83, both John Updike’s editor and a force in food publishing. Widowed 11 years ago, she still makes a point of cooking for herself most nights after leaving her Manhattan office. “Learning to cook alone is an ongoing process,” she says. “But the alternative is worse.” When her meal is ready, she brings out wine and candles, too. “People who enjoy food,” she says, “enjoy life.”
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