quokka

Who is Julia Child?

cigalechanta

Who is Sylvia?

JayMazz

Many Americans graced Paris with their presence before, during, and after their famous period(s), and the French never took note. This doesn't surprise me in the least for Miss Child.

How many Americans are famous in France and not the USA? How many French are famous in the USA and not in France?
[Serious questions BTW!]

As for the age thing of her audience, I agree with "ifnotnow_when". There are ppl my age (mid 30s) who have no idea who she is... in fact, I have a friend who repeatedly calls Juilia Roberts, Julia Child //roll eyes//. He knows Miss Child's name, but cannot place her fame.

My parents exposed me to PBS... she was a fixture in my early TV watching days. I think it is less about age groups, and more about culture/education in your own home... even if some may not like her style, they still know of her. I adore odd manners!

~Jay

bluzmama

I am an admirer of JC but then I'm past 50 and watched her on PBS. I bought Mastering back in the early 70's. I respect the fact that the French have their icons and we have ours. Sometimes they may be the same, sometimes not.

Boston is a large city with several universities so it isn't surprising that there would be an audience for artists who probably are not well known to the mainstream American. That's ok too. I hate to admit I thought JH was long dead!

bilboburgler

Ile Flottant kinda went out with blackforest gateau, sherry trifle and melon balls.

Dukey

There is absolutely NOTHING more exciting than watching two "foodie" 'people' in a food fight about somebody who supposedly is famous ("on no he ISN'T") or about who knows more about some neighborhood....best tasting menu out here today.

MissPrism

I was in a restaurant where Fanny and Johnnie Craddock were eating.
She was really obnoxious and when she left, Johnnie came back into the room and said, "I should like to apologise for my wife's behaviour".
Do you remember her when she was so horrible to poor Gwen Troake?
You can see it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eW-2fclfRpI

kerouac

I had an argument with an American friend in Paris once who claimed that "all of the young women in Paris" wore their hair like Jennifer Aniston due to the wild success of "Friends" (this was back when it was still on). Even though I pointed out that most of the French had never heard of it -- or her--, as evidenced by the fact that it was shown during a kids' programming time (I think it was at 5pm on Saturday), she remained convinced forever that Jennifer Aniston ruled French hairstyles.

Of course, they later became aware of her because of Brad Pitt, but just as a loser.

Underhill

traveller,

The book was written in the 1960's, way before nouvelle cuisine hit the restaurants of France. But in no way was the duck dish midwest-style! Duck's not big around Chicago, where I gew up.

kerouac

Most of the French have never eaten nouvelle cuisine. I think it was invented for 1) businessmen and diplomats who have to eat out constantly and love the idea of big plates with almost no food in them so they don't explode and 2) tourists who will overpay for anything they are told is chic.

twk

For those who really don't know who Julia Child is, she was the wife of an American diplomat who spent about 20 years in Europe after WWII, where she learned gourmet cooking, and hooked up with a couple of French women to write a book that would introduce French cooking to Americans. The book was published just after she moved back to the US (in the 1960s), and she did a cooking show that ran for many years on American Public Television. Her distincitve way of talking made her stand out instantly (however, that get's lost when her words have to be translated), enough so that when Saturday Nigh Live did a parody of her show in the late '70s (a clip of which appeared in the movie referenced in the OP), everyone watching was assumed to be at least vaguely familiar with her.

StCirq

There is absolutely nothing Midwestern about Julia Child's recipes. That's nonsense. It may be old-school French cooking, because of the period of time she lived in France, and she may have "adapted" the recipes for American cooks (that was the POINT), but Midwestern - no way.

kerouac

As I have said before, watching Julia Child on television, back when even shows like that were live, my favorite moment was when she dropped a major item on the floor, picked it up and threw it back in the pot. She looked straight into the camera and said, "Remember, you are alone in the kitchen and nobody can see what you are doing." (I still haven't seen the movie, but I doubt that that moment is in it.)

traveller1959

It is a sacrilege to stuff a duck with a mixture of minced pork and veal. Nobody but a Midwestern American would stuff meat with meat.

Farce melange - minced meat - is used to stuff vegetables, and in turn you stuff a duck or goose with vegetables and/or fruit, but you would never stuff meat with meat. Firstly, because it lacks contrast and it does injustice both to the duck and to the veal, and secondly, because it is the perfect way to trigger gout, cancer and heart diseases.

StCirq

<<It is a sacrilege to stuff a duck with a mixture of minced pork and veal. Nobody but a Midwestern American would stuff meat with meat.>>

Oh really? Escoffier must have come from Wisconsin, then, because I can think of a whole slew of his recipes that involve stuffing meat with meat....like Poitrine de Veau Farcie (sausage meat, duxelles, parsley, tarragon, chives, beaten egg...); Canard à la Royale (ground veal, ground pork, foie); Cou de Canard Farci (rilletes or magret, foe gras, egg, parsley); Chapon Farci (ground pork and veal, rabbit liver, hazzelnuts, fromage blanc, eggs, garlic, cloves, parsley); Lapin Farci (fresh sausage, prunes, poitrine fumée, rosemary, thyme, cèpes, shallots, pistachios)...

Would you like more?

I can also cite dozens from my 1936 edition of Pellaprat's L'Art Culinaire Moderne.

Sacrilege indeed.

jahoulih

StCirq is absolutely right. A midwestern stuffing may have a small amount of sausage in it, but it is mostly bread. A stuffing for poultry that is mostly meat is quintessentially French.

StCirq

There was a wonderful, racy pic of Julia on Anthony Bourdain's rerun last night when he visited DC and met with a former spy and visited the Spy Museum. Julia was considered by some to be a spy, which is just a wonderful addition to a very rich life.

Josser

Is she the one who started calling the main course the Entree?

flanneruk

It's a fallacy that Americans invented, through a misunderstanding, the use of 'entree' to mean main course.

Oddly, the innovators are the modern French, who mistakenly use the term to mean first course because they've forgotten the term's origin. There are a number of classic French cookbooks that use 'entree' the way Americans do, and Child was being boringly pedantic, rather than making a mistake, in retaining the 19th century French (and British) usage.

ekscrunchy

"Nobody but a midwestern American would stuff meat with meat??"

I guess that explains that classic Kansan Thanksgiving dish, Lievre a la Royale:

http://www.caterersearch.com/Article...la-royale.html