If there’s someone I aspire to be like in the cooking world it’s Julia Child. She didn’t begin cooking, really cooking, she says, until she moved to France. Food was very important to the man she married and so it became important to her. She is creditited with writing the book, The French Chef and in brining French Food to America. In 1963 she had one of the first cooking shows which premeired on PBS, it was so successful that it ran for 10 years. In 1981, she founded the educational American Institute of Wine and Food in Napa, California with vintners Robert Mondavi and Richard Graff to “advance the understanding, appreciation and quality of wine and food”, a pursuit she had already begun with her books and television appearances.
People often compliment style with the words “You’re a real Martha Stewart”, I’m not sure I would choose to say that to someone. No offense to Martha, but I am rarely moved as I browse through her slick magazine. Rather, to be viewed in the same light as Julia Child, now that would represent some authenticity; not a natural born chef, she struggled to figure out how to even get a meal on the table. In a period when women were absorbed in prepackaged food and low-cal diets she chose to write a 684 page book on how to cook french food at home. Below is one of my favorite quotes by her; I like it because I think it’s a smart way to look at your diet. Food should be about more than the caloric intake.
“During those halcyon years of the sixties the solemn subject of nutrition had not raised its head, and the recipies in this book represent that happy guilt-free era. I have not changed them at all. I leave it up to you to edit them yourself as you go along. When a particular preparation calls for a big dallop of hollandaise sauce, for instance, you might use just a spoonful, or when you are directed to beat 1 cup of heavy cream into a fish mouse, use less. However, you don’t want to destroy the beauty of the dish. Far better to make it as directed at first, then eat just a spoonful, so that you will know how it is supposed to taste. Certainly one of the best ways to good health is to follow a well-balanced diet and the motto of the American Institute of Wine and Food:
Moderation
Small helpings
A great variety of food
No snacking
Weight watching and sensible exercise
Above all -HAVE A GOOD TIME”
Author: Julia Child, Source: The French Chef, 2nd Edition 1998, Introduction
