Archived material Access restricted Article
Rantburg

Today's Front Page   View All of Sat 08/14/2004 View Fri 08/13/2004 View Thu 08/12/2004 View Wed 08/11/2004 View Tue 08/10/2004 View Mon 08/09/2004 View Sun 08/08/2004
1
2004-08-14 -Short Attention Span Theater-
Julia Child Dressed by Someone Else for a Change & Dead at 91
Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.
Posted by Zenster 2004-08-14 5:00:57 AM|| || Front Page|| [11127 views since 2007-05-07]  Top

#1 Zenster, your headline is not very nice.

Funny, but not very nice. :-p
Posted by Barbara Skolaut  2004-08-14 9:42:49 AM||   2004-08-14 9:42:49 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 Who cares how she dressed--it wasn't about her clothes!
I met Mrs. Childs and cooked for her (for a KERA charity event).
She couldn't have been more gracious.
God rest her.
And we all owe her a great debt of gratitude for taking the best of French (spit!) cooking and appropriating it for American cuisine.
If butter, eggs, flour and salt --in short, Taste--don't disappear from the national diet, it's largely due to her influence.
Posted by GreatestJeneration  2004-08-14 12:05:04 PM|| [http://www.greatestjeneration.com]  2004-08-14 12:05:04 PM|| Front Page Top

#3 Guess Zenster's not an Emeril fan, eh?
Posted by Raj 2004-08-14 12:39:10 PM||   2004-08-14 12:39:10 PM|| Front Page Top

#4 A good one she will be missed.
She was Oh So Secret from Day One, I once saw her do an 11 on a little Czech. I'll miss her, I mean if she's really gone of course... you never can tell with these tall Smithys, you may trust me on that.
I would not be too surprised to see an additional blue star show up in the atrium.
Posted by Col Flagg 2004-08-14 1:09:00 PM||   2004-08-14 1:09:00 PM|| Front Page Top

#5 If butter, eggs, flour and salt --in short, Taste--don't disappear from the national diet, it's largely due to her influence.

That's something we can agree upon, Jen. Even a Japanese born sushi chef I once knew freely admitted that it was impossible to cook most foods without using butter. To paraphrase one of my heroes, Jaques Pepin;

"You starve yourself constantly for years so you can do what, die thin?"

Breaking bread with friends (or strangers) will forever remain one of the most vital and pure forms of engagement available to humans. Whether I'm hovering over my vintage double oven O'keefe & Merritt or putzing around a campfire, few are the complaints I receive when chowtime comes. It is more than easy to trace back my love of fine food and cooking to watching "The French Chef" as a youth.

In the hurly burly of modern life, far too many people have lost (or never gained) the knack for cooking and, as is often the case, entertaining company at home as well. A huge number of modern society's malaises are directly connected to this fundamental breakdown in civility.

Julia Child masterfully helped to stem the rising tide of Velveeta and Spam that threatened to wash over America's collective palette in an oleagenous cascade of congealed food manufacturing byproducts. It is impossible to overstate the importance of her insistence upon eating what you enjoy. The continuous parade of fad diets and obsessive mania over caloric intake bespeak a nation so fixated upon the superficial that anorexia and bulemia are now common vocabulary. I, for one, am profoundly grateful that this gracious doyen of distinctive dining bravely fought that onslaught with tooth and carving knife. It certainly made my life one well lived and it is impossible to imagine doing without the conviviality of cooking an eight course dinner for good friends. Thank you, Julia, may you rest in peace.
Posted by Zenster 2004-08-14 2:55:26 PM||   2004-08-14 2:55:26 PM|| Front Page Top

#6 nicely said, Zen
Posted by Frank G  2004-08-14 3:03:59 PM||   2004-08-14 3:03:59 PM|| Front Page Top

#7 I'm with Zenster; Atkins can go Leahy hisself.
Posted by Raj 2004-08-14 3:04:14 PM||   2004-08-14 3:04:14 PM|| Front Page Top

#8 When asked how she outlived so many of the people who criticized the "unhealthiness" of her cooking she replied, "Maybe they didn't eat enough red meat". Eat well, live well for we do all die.
Posted by whitecollar redneck 2004-08-14 6:14:38 PM||   2004-08-14 6:14:38 PM|| Front Page Top

#9 Oh, time to start the grill.
Posted by whitecollar redneck 2004-08-14 6:36:56 PM||   2004-08-14 6:36:56 PM|| Front Page Top

#10 Actually Julia introduced Emeril on her show several years back. It was funny to see a clip of Emeril talking so... well... PBS/NPR-like.
Posted by eLarson 2004-08-14 8:44:03 PM||   2004-08-14 8:44:03 PM|| Front Page Top

#11 When asked how she outlived so many of the people who criticized the "unhealthiness" of her cooking she replied, "Maybe they didn't eat enough red meat".

While I was reading Noel Riley Fitch's biography of this venerable dame, it was difficult not to howl out loud with laughter as Fitch chronicled the suicide of a woman who authored (I believe) "The Blender Cookbook."

I cannot possibly convey how outrageous hilarious it is to see people at the supermarket racking up $100-$200 grocery bills buying minuscule sized frozen food portions that effectively cost the same per pound as a fine New York strip steak. I do my best to steer people away from crap like the mono & diglyceride laden "ultra-pasteurized" whipping cream, and instead point them towards the real thing. It's always funny to see their neurons fire for a change eyes widen as I point out how what I buy has only one ingredient, i.e., CREAM.

If you ever want to have a laugh-riot, watch the episode of "Yan Can Cook" where he invites Jaques Pepin to appear. Pepin proceeds to take a dressed whole chicken and convert it into a completely boned out barrontine (sp?) in less than three minutes. Watching Yan STFU and stare for just once was more than worth the price of admission.
Posted by Zenster 2004-08-14 9:31:00 PM||   2004-08-14 9:31:00 PM|| Front Page Top

#12 Class is Class,nice is Nice, good is Good, and Knowledge is King ......She had them all.
Posted by dorf 2004-08-14 9:49:24 PM||   2004-08-14 9:49:24 PM|| Front Page Top

#13 Julia Child also had something to do with the invention of shark repellant during her OSS days.
Posted by Pappy 2004-08-14 10:34:07 PM||   2004-08-14 10:34:07 PM|| Front Page Top

#14 Tonight, at the Casa de Loco en Tejas, we had grilled center-cut pork chops, mixed green salad with ALL the fixin's, guac ('nough said), pico de gallo, real corn bread (think lard) and home made tortilla chips.

I can feel my arteries hardenin'! But I will die happy. God speed Julia, I learned a LOT from you!

CiT
Posted by CiT 2004-08-14 11:01:35 PM||   2004-08-14 11:01:35 PM|| Front Page Top

22:35 CrazyFool
21:01 Anonymous4870
01:33 Zenster
01:15 Bryan
01:09 Bryan
00:51 GK
00:51 Bryan
00:47 trailing wife
00:44 Bryan
00:44 Old Patriot
00:36 trailing wife
00:35 Bryan
00:34 trailing wife
00:34 someone
00:32 trailing wife
00:31 trailing wife
00:25 trailing wife
00:21 trailing wife
00:02 Bryan
23:49 3dc
23:49 RWV
23:49 Aris Katsaris
23:44 Laurence of the Rats
23:33 muck4doo









Paypal:
Google
Search WWW Search rantburg.com