French food in the USA

Last night I watched Julie & Julia, the film about Julie Powell and Julia Child. This morning I find myself thinking about it still. I discovered that the film was not just about a blog, but about the two people. Julia Child turns out to be a fascinating person. Julie Powell turns out to be pretty much as the various press articles had depicted her.
When she brought out her second book, about butchering, there were a lot of crits. I decided that the book would not add to my appreciation of butchering. My father was a vet, so meat came in  half carcasses at our house, with my parents making the various joints and cuts, then rendering down the remains to fat and suet. There was not much mystery left. My favourite book on charcuterie remains Jane Grigson's, and I don't really need another.
So back to the film. It was interesting that Julie Powell, who is a plumptious, attractive young woman, was played by Amy Adams, who is very slim. Why? Probably because Hollywood thinks that we don't want to look at "fat" people. Amy Adams does a good job, she even looks better than she does in her glossy, "plastic" publicity pics. Nevertheless, the slim versus plump issue has been nagging me overnight.
Other details that  bothered me were the recipes. Coq au Vin with peas???? Peas in Coq au Vin? Mushrooms, yes. Bacon, yes. A cock, yes. Onions, yes. But peas? Never. Not in a single one of our French recipes. Our butcher even told me off once for buying chicken for Coq au Vin, because it was too tender and so did not need to be cooked gently for hours. So the peas were surprising. And who puts Boeuf Bourgignon in the oven? It's one of those dishes that is simmered gently on the hob, for hours.
Am I nit-picking? Probably, but living in France means that I meet people with opinions about French food. If I want to get a lively discussion going in my English classes, I ask someone to describe their recipe for Gratin Dauphinois. People get very angry about whether or not to use garlic, and woe betide the idiot who thinks that you can put cheese in it. (If you add cheese it becomes a Gratin Savoyard, as anyone from the French Alps knows.)
So, I shan't be buying Julia Child's recipe book, because I'm lucky enough to be able to understand Larousse in French. However, I may read her biography.