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How Julia Loosened Me Up
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Courtesy of American Public Television
More than a great cook and blogger muse, Julia Child was a teacher, writes her TV co-host Jacques Pepin. Her lessons: confidence, patience and the importance of a stuffy French chef not taking himself so seriously.
I was cooking in the Midtown Manhattan apartment of Helen McCully in 1960, when Helen, who was then the food editor of McCall's and House Beautiful and conveniently lived right around the corner, walked in waving a cookbook transcript she’d just received. She asked me to take a look. I did, and said I thought it was good. “The author is a Californian, and she's a very big woman with a terrible voice,” said Helen, whom I had met through the New York Times’ legendary Craig Claiborne and who had become my surrogate mother in New York. “She will come here and you'll cook for her.” That was how I met Julia Child.
“The author is a Californian, and she’s a very big woman with a terrible voice. She will come here and you’ll cook for her.”
Julia was unknown at that point; she hadn't done any television yet, and her book was just coming out. She understood French techniques because she had just returned from France. In the '70s, I published my own cookbook, La Technique, which she loved, and in the '80s, I started teaching at Boston University. Whenever I was there, we'd have lunch or dinner. Soon she started teaching at BU, as well, and occasionally we did a cooking demonstration together. She loved teaching. One of our demonstrations at the end of the 1980s became a PBS special called Cooking in Concert, and we taped it in front of 400 people in Boston. A couple of years later, we did another one that was the genesis of Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home, which we filmed at her house in Cambridge. When we did the series, people used to tease that she was more French than me—if we did hamburger, I'd do a completely American version, and hers always had something French about it.
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When I first saw a clip of Julie & Julia, at the James Beard Awards in New York City a couple of months ago, I didn't think I was going to like the movie. For someone to portray Julia, she has to do her voice, and that usually ends up a cliché, and this is what I thought when I heard Meryl Streep’s voice in the preview.
But when I finally saw the full movie a couple of weeks ago, in four or five minutes I forgot about the voice and watched Meryl be Julia, a terrific Julia. I do not think anyone else could have done it as well. The period covered in the movie was a very specific part of Julia's life of course, when she was in Paris and she was writing the Mastering the Art of French Cooking manuscript, which I subsequently read in Helen’s apartment.
The first time I heard about the Julie Powell blog, I was with a good friend of Julia's, Rebecca Alssid, who is the head of the culinary program at Boston University, where Julia and I taught. Julia came up to us and said, "You won’t believe this; there is a woman who is doing a blog on my book, Mastering the Art. She's going to do all those recipes in one year. How silly can that be?" Of course, I enjoyed the portrayal of Julia in France more than the part about Julie Powell because I never met her or read her book, but it was certainly a challenge to make all those recipes in one year.
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Dear Jacques,
I remember that live show that you two taped in Boston (my home town) and I have loved you both for over twenty years. I spent many a rainy Massachusetts Saturday curled up on the couch with one or both of you on WGBH, which would then inspire me to cook something delicious that evening.
Your newest show, Fast Food My Way is one of my all time favorite TV indulgences. I also purchased your memoir, The Aprentice, for my father and father-in law the instant it came out.
Never underestimate the impact you have had on American cuisine. You and Julia turned me into a proud Fracophile.
Looking forward to every minute of the new film!
I learned how to cook by watching PBS starting from age 11. My mother went to work in San Francisco, so I became a latchkey kid. Now, 28 years later, now living in Wales and having travelled to many countries - several times to France, my fiance is regarded amongst our friends as the luckiest guy, because every dinner is something I enjoy banging around in the kitchen making.
Many thanks to you and Julia, who were a Saturday morning inspiration. I absolutely learned how to be confident at the market and in the kitchen from you!
=)Cynthia
It was your cooking show with Julia on PBS that elicited, for me, the funniest comment Julia ever uttered. You were both making mashed potatoes. Julia kept putting pats of butter into yours when your back was turned.
"Mashed potatoes need butter," said Julia, "But if you are trying to lighten up, you can always substitute some heavy cream!"
Your series with Julia and the series with your daughter, Claudine, were the best.
I loved Julia Child. I can remember whe I was young watching her on PBS. It was great to see a real love of cooking and yet not taking it so seriously. And Jaques, your time with her was some of my favorites. I can hardly wait to see the movie.
Mr. Pepin, thank you very much for sharing your experiences and anecdotes about Julia. I too am also a big fan of your latest show, Fast Food My Way. Especially your embrace of "off the shelf" pantry items, be they canned beans or packaged lox. I've made many of the opening segment's quick and easy appetizers; my favorites are the chili bread sticks and the herring salad with apple.
Julia Child taught my mother to cook. We'd watch her shows religiously and she became a part of our family. She was smart, funny, no nonsense, and we learned a lot from her. I wish I could have known her in person. I mourned her passing as I would have a dear aunt.
Thank you.
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