To mark the 100th anniversary of Julia Child’s birth, PBS.org recently invited a number of chefs and food bloggers to share tributes to Julia, to tell a little about how the seminal cookbook author, TV personality and larger than life person had influenced them. They were kind enough to include me on their list.
You’ll find Julia sprinkled throughout the pages of Blue Kitchen (and it’s interesting that we all feel comfortable enough with her to call her that, not Ms. Child—but that was the kind of warmth and comfort she always inspired). There are actual recipes, of course, starting with Potage Parmentier, the simple six-ingredient potato leek soup she made for her beloved husband and collaborator Paul almost every day. And there was Skate Meunière with Browned Butter and Capers, based on the life-changing sole meunière Julia ate on her first day in France with Paul.
But Julia is elsewhere on Blue Kitchen too. A few summers ago, when we took a trip to Washington, DC and made a pilgrimage to her kitchen at the Smithsonian, I shared that experience here. And when the movie Julie & Julia came out and we, like just about every other food geek, saw it the first weekend, I wrote a piece about what Julia taught us and why we could use a few more Julias today.
So looking for something new to say about her for this PBS tribute was a bit of a challenge. Many of the other tributes mentioned her well documented fearlessness or her embracing life to the fullest, both qualities I strive for with varying (and usually limited) degrees of success. But another Julia quality came to mind as I thought about her and how she had influenced me and my cooking: Stay curious.
Julia grew up in a comfortably well-to-do, conservative Pasadena household. She could have easily fallen into a California ladies-who-lunch life of parties and perhaps a pet charity or two. Instead, she went to work for the OSS and met her husband Paul in Ceylon. When they moved to Paris and she fell in love with French food, she went to one of the best cooking schools to learn more about it.
Her curiosity about everything caused her to devour life, not just live it. Even on her later cooking shows, in which she shared cooking duties with other chefs, this acknowledged kitchen virtuoso was delighted to learn from her guests. You could see her watching them intently, occasionally commenting on some technique they employed, some ingredient they added, with a statement that often began with some version of “Oh, now that’s interesting…”
Staying curious is something I’m good at. My magpie eye is always looking for some shiny new object to snatch up. In cooking, those shiny objects can take the form of ingredients or techniques I’ve never tried, a new kitchen tool or even a random phrase on a vague menu description. As with many food writers—especially those of us who write about our own cooking—every once in a while, I hit a wall. I ask myself why I’m doing this. Inevitably, within the next day or two, I’ll see something that channels my inner Julia, stirring my curiosity and making me think “Oh, now that’s interesting…”
Julia’s birthday is August 15. You can read more tributes to the woman who changed the way America cooks on PBS Food.
I doubt if I’d be cooking today if Julia hadn’t shown me how straightforward preparing good food can be once you learn a few basic principles. She was the first, and in some ways the best, teacher for how to think about food, at least for me. Nice post — thank you.
My life has been made richer by having watched some of the original Julia Child shows. Growing up in Levittown, it was not until after college and venturing into the theater district and other nearby little sections of NY that I began to let my taste buds explore all that Julia whetted my appetite for. Thanks for re-surfacing those memories.
Thanks, Kitchenriffs. Basic principles is exactly right. Today’s food TV centers so much on ridiculous competitions that only teach us to watch people cook or product-driven short cuts. Julia and many who followed her taught basic principles and techniques that would serve you for a lifetime in the kitchen. A few still do—Jacques Pépin and Ming Tsai come to mind—but not nearly enough.
Barbara, I think many fans of Julia had similar experiences. We were too young to be cooking along with her, but some key ideas and her general approach planted themselves in our brains so they could come to the surface later when we made our ways into our own kitchens. For people who were of cooking age when the shows first aired, she must have been nothing short of revolutionary.
Oh Julia. You’ve touched us all. I’m so glad you lived.
“Oh, now that’s interesting . . .” should be a motto for life. Great work, here, Terry B.!
I have an imaginary theory about her kitchen that I wrote about in this post in 2009: http://athinkingstomach.blogspot.com/2009/04/way-way-up.html
What a wonderful (wine-induced, I’m guessing) imagined meeting of Julia, Einstein and Hubble, Christina! I can see how that tool-covered wall might have started you down that path. It is always a treat to read your writings.
Today, as a tribute to Julia Child, I am making boeuf bourguignonne. I usually make this dish on a rainy day in the fall or winter and it is very hot here in sunny San Diego but I will sacrifice to honor Julia Child. She didn’t just change my life. She changed the whole culinary world. Happy Birthday Julia!
Sounds like the perfect tribute, Vancooks!
I watched the Julia Child Memories show on PBS this weekend and was thrilled to learn how she made omelets, roast chicken and boullibaise (although the skinned eel didn’t exactly do it for me). I’ve already made a omelet her way – delicious – I’ve always known the French have a different way with eggs – they add butter after they’re cooked and I’m getting ready to roast a chicken the Julia way. I can certainly unxerstand Julie wanting to cook all 500 recipes. My favorite teachers are Julia and James Beard. And I have to admit Ina Garten and Paula Deen aren’t too far off the mark either.
Linda C., I think the French have a different way with just about everything they cook. There is almost an innate sense of how to cook something exactly the right way.