Food for thought is anything that stimulates your thinking. Lately, thanks to a book I'm currently reading, I've been thinking a lot about … food. And also about life.
The book is an
excellent biography called Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child, by Bob Spitz. Even though I haven’t mastered the art
of French cooking, and saw her TV shows only on rare occasions, I've always
felt
a kinship with Julia.
Two things draw me toward her. One is the fact that we share a birthday (the month and day, that is, not the year). The other is a story I heard about something that happened during the filming of a TV episode. As Julia was preparing the dish of the week, some ingredient or other slopped onto the floor. "Oh, don't worry about that," she trilled in her unmistakable voice. "The self-cleaning floor will take of it." Within minutes, the network received more than two hundred calls from viewers asking where they could purchase their own self-cleaning floor.
I don’t know if
that story is true, but I hope it is, because
I like what it says about Julia's
approach to cooking. Concentrate on what's important--the food--and don't let a
little spill deter you. And keep your sense of humor while you're at it. All of
which, when you think about it, is pretty good advice for life too.
Julia was more than a successful cookbook author and a TV star. She changed not only American perceptions of French cuisine, but also the culture surrounding food and the role it plays our lives. Given all that she accomplished, I was surprised to learn from Spitz's book that she wandered through life with no sense of direction until she was close to forty. That’s when she arrived in Paris with her husband, Paul, who'd been posted there by the US State Department. She was a bored housewife who lacked kitchen skills, unable to do much more than boil water. Looking for a way to pass the time, she wandered into Le Cordon Bleu cooking school and decided to take lessons. There she discovered her life’s work and from that point on, she pursued it with an unrelenting passion.
I find her story inspiring--not the cooking part necessarily, but the dedication, the enthusiasm and the joie de vivre. All of those traits are worth cultivating, in my opinion. On our mutual birthday last summer—her 100th, mine a much smaller number—I decided to bake her signature Reine de Saba cake in her honor. Chocolate, almonds, rum, delicious! As Julia would say, "Bon appetit!"
Her pre-Paris life was hardly lacking in direction, given her role in OSS activities in WWII: http://research.archives.gov/description/2180661
Posted by: Liz | February 22, 2013 at 06:14 AM
Liz, thank you for the comment. It's true that Julia spent time in Asia with the OSS, and she enjoyed the people she met and the adventure of being in foreign climes. But while her assignments carried a level of responsibility, they were clerical jobs that she found boring. Though she did the work well, it didn't give her a real and ongoing sense of purpose. OSS did change her life in one way, though. That's where she met Paul, who became her husband.
Posted by: Margaret Lucke | February 22, 2013 at 09:47 AM
I really like this post, Peggy. When sharing “what nurtures your thoughts” brings inspiration to others, I believe that’s a gift. Julia Child had that gift. Many writers have that gift, too. The ability to concentrate on what’s important, and not let the bumps in the road deter you, and keep a sense of humor is important in life, but the ability to share it so that others can be inspired by those thoughts and where they have led is awesome.
Posted by: Pat Morin | February 22, 2013 at 01:03 PM
You're right, Pat. It's indeed a gift, and one we can all be grateful for when it comes our way.
Posted by: Margaret Lucke | February 22, 2013 at 04:09 PM
Love her. I think she was the one who said "you're alone in the kitchen", a statement that let a cook make mistakes and survive them. Down to earth and a real delight.
Posted by: Priscilla | February 23, 2013 at 10:11 AM
Peggy, perhaps you should write a novel set in the 1940s with Julia as a character. You sound like you wouldn't have to do much research since you know her so well. Your books are sort of like a big meal prepared by Julia. Mine, on the other hand, are more like opening a can of Chef Boyardee
Posted by: Michael A. Black | February 24, 2013 at 07:11 PM