Comments on: Commemorating Julia Child’s 100th birthday

By: Amy

Amy — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 00:02:07 +0000

Lindsey – my daughter and I have been cooking along with a group that is working its way through “Baking With Julia” by Dorie Greenspan. It is the companion book to the series mentioned above. On the show she hosted Master Bakers who showed how to create a variety of baked goods. We are having a lot of fun doing it – makes for good long distance blogging with my daughter! Here’s the link to the host website and also to my daughter’s blog where she has described out baking attempts!

Tuesdays With Dorie

http://tuesdayswithdorie.wordpress.com/

Baking Together (our favorite so far has been the Fresh Strawberry Cake)

http://katiethisdell.wordpress.com/category/tuesdays-with-dorie/

By: Laura

Laura — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 14:46:35 +0000

I’ve made two recipes of hers, a creamy leek and potato soup that is simply to die for (we were living in Michigan at the time, and that soup with a crusty baguette was the perfect thing to take the edge off on a wintry Sunday) and a fruit tart that I modified (I used filo sheets instead of making a puff pastry by hand). I like that her recipes look complicated at first glance, but once you get into them they’re actually quite simple, and fun to boot.

By: Kristen

Kristen — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 13:33:00 +0000

I met Julia once, in 1985, and she was just a hearty and buoyant in real life as she seemed on her show. She was my father’s personal hero for standing tall against the evil forces of “nouvelle cuisine” and continuing to cook unashamedly with butter and eggs.

By: Kathy

Kathy — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 01:30:22 +0000

Whoops! Posted before I was done! That book was a very good read, it was like hearing her voice telling her story. I also loved the movie “Julie and Julia”, Meryl Streep was so Julia! I have a copy of Julia’s Kitchen Wisdom, it has some great recipes, tips, etc., the perfect basic cookbook for practically everything.

By: Kathy

Kathy — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 01:16:20 +0000

“My Life in France”

By: Jeff

Jeff — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 22:15:16 +0000

I have my moments.

By: Lindsey Nair

Lindsey Nair — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 22:04:28 +0000

Very well said, Jeff.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 21:39:59 +0000

I think, more than the foods themselves, Julia railed against the prevailing attitudes behind the processed foods; that cooking was drudgery, an unpleasant household task no different from cleaning or doing the laundry, and anything to make it easier and quicker was a boon to the modern woman. This idea resonated with the burgeoning Women’s Lib movement, and with women increasingly working outside the home. Julia held that cooking could be enjoyable, that the effort itself produced something worthwhile, and she did it as a strong, independent woman. Moreover, she was having fun. She was not a sanitized, domesticated Betty Crocker preaching the gospel of the homemaker’s duty while espousing the joys of boxed cake mix to please that hard-working man.
I also tend to think Julia would probably be just as upset with the way modern foodie culture worships and fetishizes food as she would the corporations producing soulless boxes and cans of processed junk. Both ends of the spectrum tend to forget that food should be about people first, and food second. I think that was always obvious in Julia’s approach, that food was always about bringing people together and making them happy.

By: Lindsey Nair

Lindsey Nair — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 19:53:10 +0000

I agree, Jeff. Today’s “backlash,” for lack of a better term, against ultra-processed foods would have been right up Julia’s alley, wouldn’t it? Maybe she planted some of the seeds for today’s local food movement.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 19:01:05 +0000

Not so much a favorite recipe, but I just loved the way she approached food and her audience. Her approach was always “don’t worry, you can do this,” and she demystified both French cuisine and serious home cooking at a time when processed mass-market convenience foods were taking over the kitchen.