“It’s fun to get together and have something
good to eat at least once a day. That’s what human life is all about
– enjoying things.”
If there is one thing we all have in common, it is the need to eat. And
it doesn’t hurt one bit that this is something that we all enjoy. Cookbooks
have been around in one form or another for a long time. In many families,
some recipes are jealously guarded and handed down through the generations.
So, it’s not a big surprise that with the rise of easy communication
through radio, television and now the Internet, that food – especially
preparing and enjoying it – has become a “hot” topic.
Cooking shows would become a staple of local television programming.
In the daytime, the viewers were likely to be housewives at home, and
a show that would attract their interest was all the better. Perhaps the
best of those, way back when (1962 to be precise, with the televised pilot
episode), was the product of a Public Television station, WGBH in Boston.
That first show, “The French Chef” featured a witty, entertaining
woman who made what seemed intricate and delicate cooking, simple and
accessible to the viewers in a way that no one had ever done before.
From the home side of the small screen, Julia Child took viewers through
119 episodes from 1963 to 1966. Along the way, she gave them the opportunity
to explore cooking as never before. “The French Chef Cookbook”
followed with an episode by episode recipe guide to help inspire
those chefs-in-the-making to take up the challenge in their own kitchens.
Watching her gave many people the chance to learn just what they were
capable of. And if you made a mistake or two along the way, well…
so did Julia, and she wasn’t afraid to show them either. Some of those
were things viewers might have done and seeing her admit she wasn’t perfect
made it seem all the more comforting that we all goof up now and then.
Often those bloopers led to other opportunities to give out a tip or offer
an alternative. (And it later led to some classic satire as both Dan Akroyd
and John Goodman parodied those moments on NBC’s “Saturday Night
Live”. While I can’t prove it, I’ve heard that Julia got a good laugh
from those skits.)
Thanks to the PBS network, those original shows found life in syndication.
With Julia’s participation as an author on “Mastering the Art of
French Cooking, Volume One” (along with Louisette Berthole and Simone Beck), many of the
viewers went on to try out recipes on unsuspecting family and friends.
The Colton household was one of those. To this day, a particular vegetable
soup recipe from those days is still referred to as “Julia Child’s
Soup”. There were many other surprises as well, including the first
exposure to puffed pastries, Chicken Kiev and a lot more. For many years,
a place of honor was reserved on a wall in the kitchen where a letter
from Julia to the chef of the house was proudly displayed.
Observant readers of my weekly “Ruminations” may recall that
earlier this year, I had a chance to view Julia Child’s kitchen (from
her house in Cambridge, Massachusetts) on display at the Smithsonian’s
National Museum of American History. A particularly startling moment was turning a corner while
viewing the kitchen only to see the many of same cookbooks on a shelf
that I remembered from years at home. That kitchen became more than familiar
to viewers. It was used for the location for filming her last three series
of shows: In Julia’s Kitchen With Master Chef’s, Baking With Julia and
Julia and Jacques: Cooking At Home.
What many people may not know was that this kitchen was specifically
designed with her in mind. While it looks like many a quaint country kitchen,
it has many features specified by her husband, Paul, just to meet her
needs. For example, Julia was 6 feet two inches tall, and a standard height
counter-top (56 inches) would be too low for her to comfortably work at.
So, in this kitchen, Paul had them set to 58 inches. Another one of his
touches was peg-board with the outlines of various kitchen tools and pots
for easy storage. All very innovative for 1961!
Another point worth noting about Julia and those early shows was her
introduction of not only good food but good wine to go along with it.
If the American public was under-educated about French cooking, it was
even more so about wine – imported and domestic. What seems so simple
today, was almost alien (like from another planet, even!) back then.
One of my favorite Julia Child stories involves, of all kinds of food,
McDonalds and French Fries. They were her favorite fast food snack. She
lamented the changes in them when McDonalds changed from preparing them
in lard to vegetable oil. They just weren’t the same to her after that.
We enjoyed all of Julia’s others over the years. One I always looked
forward to was “Dinner At Julia’s”. With a great meal, there
was usually a great wine, and even an occasional visit in the field in
search of just the right item to make an evening complete. It didn’t hurt
that the theme song for the show was “These Foolish Things”;
one of my favorite Benny Goodman tunes.
PBS carries on the tradition of those days with more shows keeping viewers
in search of new and time-honored cuisines. The Food Network with Emeril,
Bobby Flay and all the rest would not be as popular as they are if it
had not been for the foundation Julia Child created with “The French
Chef” and the subsequent series of shows. As much as she will be
missed, we’ll always have those to look back on and enjoy all over again.
“Bon Appétit!”
The Food Network will be hosting a Tribute to Julia Child this coming
Sunday, August 22 from 8 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. EDT/PDT. Check this link for the details on the various programs being aired and their
times.
And if you’re looking to find more about Julia Child and her love
of cooking, Amazon has a great selection of titles, both in print and
on video, as well as come interesting kitchen items – all available
here.