"We started our evening off with iced Clos des Goisses champagne, which Paul served in the big bubbly-glass goblets that we'd bought in Biot, the local glassmaking town. The first course was 'tomates farcies a la pistouille'; tomatoes stuffed with chopped eggplant, fresh tomato pulp, basil, and garlic. A poached egg sat on top, like a queen on her throne." -- Julia Child, "My Life in France"
How many people have taken their first steps towards serious cooking because of Julia Child? How many people have read her words or watched her on their televisions? How many people saw a gawky, awkward woman who never seriously cooked until her forties, looked at the delicious food she had made, and then said to themselves, "Wait -- I could make that?" In a way, the best compliment to Ms. Child is that her contribution to home cookery cannot be quantified. In a culture increasingly fascinated by food, where chefs now regularly enjoy celebrity status, where people write and read blogs like this one, perhaps the real question is this: What part of food culture didn't she contribute to?
Indeed, however many people have been influenced by Ms. Child, as of this week, we can add one more person to their ranks.
