The French Chef

Posted: April 27, 2010 | Author: Bakezilla | Filed under: Bakezilla | 1 Comment »

In case I didn’t share this before, for the past 16 months, I have been in an intensive master’s program. Anyone who’s been to graduate school knows that it truly kicks one’s ass. It has been well worthwhile, but exhausting, busy, stressful and just really, really intense.

Today is my last day of class. All of my papers are handed in. I graduate 2 weeks from tomorrow. And, I have promised myself that it’s time to catch up on some things I find enjoyable and that have nothing to do with my area of study. The first thing on my list: get to know Julia Child, the French Chef.

I know everyone loves Julia Child, but I am a bit too young to have watched the original PBS show, and was still in school when Julie and Julia came out. But, last month, I went to Washington DC and toured her kitchen at the Smithsonian Museum of American History. It was a thing of beauty. She had every kitchen tool imaginable, but it wasn’t a sterile chef’s kitchen. It was painted a beautiful blue-green, it had playful pictures everywhere, and magnets on the fridge. She was more than a chef, but a real person, who loved her home, and made it comfortable.

Next, I picked up a copy of her book, “My Life in France.” Wow. She tells the story of how she lived in France at the beginning of her marriage, and fell in love with French food, French wine, and French people. She discovered herself there, and realized her passion for cooking, and her dream of bringing the art and soul and most of all, joy, in cooking to Americans. It’s speckled with descriptions of the things she prepared and ate, and stories of her loving, fun relationship with her husband, her sheer humanity, her exuberance and insight. To be honest, a lot of the food itself isn’t all that appetizing to me (e.g. “little fish en lorgnette (a pretty dish in which the fish’s backbone is cut out, the body is rolled up to the head, and the whole is deep-fried in boiling fat)”). It’s her curiosity, her happiness, her honesty, and her exploration of a new culinary world that’s inspiring. Her lessons about cooking, about love, and life, and her propensity to look at the world with excitement are what makes her so incredible. And, the fact that she helped introduce America to a new way (the French way) of cooking and enjoying food (with wine! what a concept!) makes her a role model for me. I may never aspire to be a professional chef, but I hope to cook with the same devotion as Julia Child did forever.

Who else are some of your food heroes? Who inspires you?