Happy 100, My Beloved Kitchen Saint

Unless you’re on a media blackout, I suspect you know that today would have been Julia Child’s 100th birthday. She lived a long life–she died nine years ago at 91 years of age–and I have to admit to shedding a few tears for her even though I never knew her personally–because she is one of my greatest influences.

She found her path, and nothing deterred her once she began moving forward. She just kept forging her way, guided by passion and love, and in doing so, changed the way Americans view food, cooking and eating forever.

Without Julia, I doubt there would be locavores.

The Slow Food movement would undoubtedly have started in Italy, but would it have come to America if we hadn’t been schooled by Julia? Maybe not.

And I doubt that there would be as many women in professional kitchens today if we hadn’t all grown up seeing Julia cook her heart out on television before God and everybody.

God bless her–we need more like her. (And truly, I think we have many, many more like her, following in her footsteps each and every day. People learning to grow, cook, eat and preserve good food seem to be popping up everywhere like porcini mushrooms after a rainstorm.)

To celebrate, PBS put together a video–“Julia Remixed.”

Here it is, so we can all celebrate together.

And remember: “Life itself is the proper binge.”

4 Comments

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  1. Thank you for sharing the fabulous Julia Re-Mix video. I saw it earlier and have been enjoying it all day. So much so that I’ve spent the last hour writing to all my favorite food blogs to make sure they saw it too. What’s your favorite line? I’m torn between “Bring on the roasted potatoes” and the Eminem style “the lemons, the garlic, the rosemary.”

    Comment by jeri — August 15, 2012 #

  2. Barbara, I was writing to you when the weather here went berserk, and looks like my earlier post didn’t go through. How much did you love that video? I can’t stop watching it, and I’ve been trying to share it with all my favorite food bloggers. I don’t have a blog, so I hope someone will post asking for the favorite line. Mine is “bring on the roasted potatoes.”
    Followed closely by “the lemon, the garlic, the rosemary” (very Eminem).

    Comment by jeri — August 15, 2012 #

  3. We have a family friend whose youngest son used to housesit for Julia when she and her husband would go out of town. He would call up his mom (a fabulous cook) and say “Mom, I have two kitchens. Now what do I do?” I still love watching her old shows. She is worth remembering and celebrating for all she gave us.

    Comment by Maureen — August 16, 2012 #

  4. I’m so late coming back here, and look you’re back! I’m so happy to hear that you and the family are doing well (and that your neuro issues have been sorted and very excited to see what you’ve been cooking.

    xo

    Comment by Christine — August 17, 2012 #

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