I am by no means a chef. I can cook and I love surfing for new and exciting recipes however, I won't be winning any James Beard awards any time soon. But I am a sucker for real chefs. Bourdain, Collichio, Cosentino, My dad, Ripert...I can go on for days. Random facts about chefs? That's my bread and butter. So it's with great pleasure that I wish the mother of them all (quite literally) a happy 100th birthday! It seems that the entire foodie world has joined me in celebrating this national holiday. Google has a doodle in her honor, Eatocracy has been blogging their hearts out, and the Smithsonian had a party just for her.
Today, August 15, would have been Julia Child's 100th birthday. She was, by all intense and purposes, the queen of her domain. There are a million reasons to love Julia. She succeeded where many said she wouldn't. She became the first real celebrity chef. She was an agent in the OSS during WWII. She didn't fit the ideal image of the time and could have cared less about it. She ate butter, red meat, chocolate, and foie-gras and drank gin and lived to be 92 years old. But I love her mostly because she loved food even more than I do.
You can probably tell by now that eating is probably my favorite past-time. I look forward to new restaurants and trying new things. The blogs and articles I read are about chefs, recipes and restaurants. Before I visit a new city or town, I check out the dining scene first. I can't imagine having Spaghettios or Cup-a-noodles for any meal. (Never had them and never will: quite proud of that fact!) Vegans/Vegetarians and I come from 2 completely different planets. I don't understand those who eat because they have to, not because they want to. Yeah, you could say that I'm a bit of a food snob.
And I know that most chefs love food in this same way. But to watch Julia, you could almost taste what she was tasting. You knew the second she ate something, how she felt about it; whether it needed more or less seasoning, or whether it was the most perfect thing she'd ever had. She tasted nearly everything that went into her pans and made that OK for the rest of us. She ate the final product with reckless abandon that encouraged any home cooks to give it a shot. Heck, if Julia said they could do it, they better gosh darn try! Her recipes in "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" were all a labor of love. The book isn't stuffy or preachy. She knew how delicious French food could be if made correctly, and she wanted the rest of the world to know as well. It wasn't cooking and for cooking sake. She expected you to eat these dishes and mostly fall in love with them. Why spend all the time and energy making something if it wasn't going to be delicious?! I found this quote earlier today which pretty much sums up her (and my) outlook on life. (I pretty much want to frame it and hang it in my kitchen!)
On top of her talent in the kitchen, she had a simple and completely adorable relationship with her husband Paul. Paul adored Julia and their marriage was something to aspire to. He encouraged her to do what she loved and with that encouragement and support, she was able to become someone all foodies admire greatly.
For most of us, she's that grandmother in the kitchen baking our favorite cake. That may be why I love her so much. She's always reminded me of my grandmother with her love for all things food and the stern yet always loving, always smiling demeanor. They both could crack jokes while wrapping you in a bear hug. And of course, they could cook pretty much whatever you desired. The world would be a much happier (and better fed) place if we all had someone like Julia in our life. I know mine is.
So Happy 100th Julia! Wherever you are, know that you are still much admired, much respected and mostly, much loved.
