Who the heck is Julia Child?
For those of us who learned how to cook by watching Public Television, Julia Child is a childhood hero, an iconic and statuesque food enthusiast who inspired us to understand and enjoy the art of cooking. In 1963, she launched the “Televised Cooking Show” and convinced Americans that they, too, could master French cooking. And she proceeded to show everyone how.
Interesting Note: She was so well known back in the day thatDan Akroyd spoofed her on Saturday Night Live, adding the memorable pop-culture line “and now, the chicken…oh, I seem to have cut myself…” to the parlance of the time. It was a funny skit because we all knew who Julia Child was. In those days, television consisted of ABC, NBC, CBS and PBS, and that was it. More of us used to tune in to PBS because it was the place where we could see Julia (and later Jacques Pepin), happily teaching us about the wonders of cooking. Those were simple times .We listened and learned a lot in those days.
What did we learn? We all learned that Julia liked butter.We all knew that she often dismissed kitchen folklore. We intuited that she was fond of the rich things in life – those that enriched life, anyway.But she was also concerned about the growing trend in America to eat more fast foods, pre- packaged foods and meals away from home. Sitting down to dinner was supposed to be a glorious thing, not a laborious or sonorous task.
The dumbing-down of the American palate : There were several reasons for her sound the alarm bells.Americans, it seemed, were dumbing-downtheir palates, not enriching them. In the bountiful land of America , why, she asked, would an American
settle for highly processed cheese food and not enjoy a fine sharp cheddar or aromatic blue?Why did Americans not choose better foods?In her estimation, it was a lack of education .And so Julia, together with Robert Mondavi, the great California vintner, created the American Institute of Wine of Food, whose mission was to enhance the prandial habits of Americans. The Institute now focuses on teaching disadvantaged students about taste, fresh foods, food choices and the actual nutrition of the food they consume.
Twenty-five Years of Wine (and food): This year marks the 25th Anniversary of the American Institute of Wine and Food, whose outreach program “Days of Taste” reaches thousands of New York City schoolchildren whose neighborhoods and schools are chock-full of the deep-fried, the sugar- laden and the pre-processed.Many of these children have never handled fresh produce and consume nearly 40% of their calorie intake via soft drinks and French fries. If only 10% of the 5000 students who participate in Days of Taste decide that food & nutrition choices are important, then that is 500 fewer who can avoid the serious health threats that the fast- sugar processed food outlets peddle to the working poor,
the working class, and indeed to children in all school systems.
If you are interested in learning more, visit the AIWF home page. There are many tasty and informative events that take place all over the city, throughout the year.
www.aiwf.org