Meeting Legendary Julia Child

Meeting Legendary Julia Child originally published on Food and Fond Memories on October 25, 2016 by sandyaxelrod 2 Comments (Edit)

Julia Childs and Lucky Me

It seems like a lifetime ago that I met the legendary Julia Child but I remember it like it was yesterday. Steve and I had only been in the catering business for two and a half years when we went to a huge catering conference in New Orleans. That was way back in March of 1992. I knew by the itinerary that the guest speakers would be the luminaries of that time among them Paul Prudhomme, Justin Wilson and Julia Child. Although I certainly admired the first two, Julia Child was my idol. She was the one who enticed me to really cook. I had already prepared so many of the dishes from her repertoire that I felt I knew her. It was because of Julia that I got my Grand Diplome from Le Cordon Bleu, London. I wanted to learn classic French technique because I knew that knowing that I would have the skills needed to prepare almost any cuisine. Initially my reason for truly becoming proficient in cooking was to be able to entertain well and cook fabulous meals for my husband. It had never entered my mind that I would be cooking professionally, especially since so few women pursued careers as chefs at that time. Little did I know then that I would someday put my hard learned knowledge to use when we opened our upscale off-premise catering business Affairs to Remember Catering in 1989. So on that morning in March when Julia Child took the podium to speak to us my heart was pounding with exhilaration. There she stood before us, my guru, there are no words to describe the awe that I felt. I think she was already close to eighty years old and she spoke in that high pitched voice but the wisdom that she imparted will stay with me forever. She was clever and witty. She made us laugh but at the same time truly inspired us to be the best caterers we could possibly be. She was so ahead of her time touting fresh ingredients and stating that it only takes a few simple good quality components to create delicious dishes. After our breakfast I had the opportunity to speak with her for a few fleeting moments, have her sign one of her cookbooks for me and take a picture. How lucky I was to get to meet the one person who had inspired me to ultimately become a chef!