Julia Carolyn Child: August 15, 1912 – August 13, 2004
It’s feels sacrilegious to have a site that centers around a passion for food and not mention Julia Child. Truth be told I have been trying to figure out an organic way to work her into a death positive discussion that wasn’t just a, “Julia Child! She cooks!” So I looked up where she was buried and like all things, found that I didn’t have to try that hard to have an interesting conversation. It turns out Julia, who died in 2004 is buried in a place that I have somehow never seen before, Neptune Memorial Reef, an underwater mausoleum for cremated remains!
But first, let’s talk a little bit about who Julia was, for those of you that don’t know the 6-foot-2 American folk hero, Julia was originally “The French Chef,” and with her bubbly and bright personality she preached a passion not just for having good food but in sharing it, and ending her landmark public television lessons by wishing all her viewers a “Bon appetit.”
While much of what Julie cooked-nay almost all-was definitely not vegan, the passionate food lover and educator connects with the fact that Julia believed that “dining with one’s friends and beloved family is certainly one of life’s primal and most innocent delights, one that is both soul-satisfying and eternal… In spite of food fads, fitness programs, and health concerns, we must never lose sight of a beautifully conceived meal.”
It was said of Julia that, “She is the standard by which I judge all professionals. She’s always eager to learn something, to try something new. She just has this generosity of spirit.”
In my last post I discussed obituaries so I thought it would be neat to include Julia’s as an example!
“Julia Child had a recipe for teaching Americans to make classy food: combine the art of a master chef with chirpy humor and the occasional gourmet pratfall. And don't forget the wine. For generations of Americans, she was a 6-foot-2 kitchen icon, sharing her delight of French cuisine through her TV show and cookbooks. Her warbling voice and cheery manner merited endless parodies but her contribution to U.S. gastronomy was undeniable.
"At a time when we were all eating canned food and frozen TV dinners, she came out and said, 'You should be eating better than this and go back in the kitchen and start cooking,''' said longtime friend Sara Moulton, a cook who hosts "Sara's Secrets'' on the Food Network.
Child died early Friday at her home in an assisted-living center in Montecito, about 90 miles northwest of Los Angeles, said her niece, Philadelphia Cousins. Child, who had suffered from liver failure, died in her sleep two days before her 92nd birthday, her niece said. Family, friends and her kitten, Minou, were at her side, Cousins said. She was a "great, great figure of the art of cooking'' said top French chef Alain Ducasse, who knew Child. "Her enthusiasm for cooking was endless. Ms. Child was an inspired ambassador of cuisine in the United States,'' Ducasse said in a statement. "Today, the entire community of cooks is sad and feels like orphans.''
Child was 51 when she made her television debut as "The French Chef.'' The series began in 1963 and continued for 206 episodes. Child won a Peabody award in 1965 and an Emmy the following year. She went on to star in several more series for Boston's WGBH-TV. "She was incredibly smart, and if she wanted to learn something, she set about learning it,'' said Russell Morash, who produced "The French Chef'' and other public television shows featuring Child as recently as the mid-1990s. "Whether it was how to make French bread, or how to prepare the perfect omelet, she would take the trouble to learn about something, and then she mastered it in a way that I never saw anyone else do,'' Morash said. Her gourmet philosophy included drinking. In one TV program, chef and friend Jacques Pepin asked what kind of wine she preferred with picnics -- red or white. "I like beer,'' Child said enthusiastically, pulling out a cold bottle and two glasses. "We'd go to the market, and she'd buy Wonder Bread,'' Pepin said in a telephone interview. "She had no snobbism about food whatsoever.'' Child also expressed a fondness for hamburgers, which she ate while recovering from 2002 knee-replacement surgery.
She wasn't always tidy in the kitchen, and just like the rest of us, sometimes dropped things or had trouble getting a cake out of its mold. "If she made a mistake on TV she would keep going,'' Moulton said. "Here was this 6-foot-2 woman with a warbly voice dropping the meat on the burner and saying 'No big deal.' So why should I be nervous about cooking? Her real legacy is she got us cooking.'' Last year, President Bush awarded Child the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. Her custom-designed kitchen -- including small utensils, personal cookbooks and six-burner Garland commercial range -- has been on display at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. "She was more than a pioneer, a legend or a giant. She's the rock that started the avalanche that changed the way America eats,'' said Brooke Johnson, president of the Food Network, which will air a documentary on Child Aug. 22.
Child was born in Pasadena, Calif., and graduated from Smith College in 1934 with a history degree. When World War II began, she joined the Office of Strategic Services, forerunner of the CIA. She was sent off to do clerical chores in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), where she met Paul Child, a career diplomat who later became a photographer and painter. They married in 1946 and two years later were sent to Paris. In France, she enrolled in the famed Cordon Bleu cooking school and also met Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle, with whom she collaborated on "Mastering the Art of French Cooking.'' The book was nine years in the making and became mandatory for anyone who took cooking seriously. It was published in 1961 and was followed by "The French Chef Cookbook''; "Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. II,'' with Beck; "From Julia Child's Kitchen''; "Julia Child & Company''; "Julia Child & More Company''; and "The Way to Cook,'' in October 1989. More recently, she teamed with fellow television chef Jacques Pepin for the 1994 PBS special, "Julia Child & Jacques Pepin: Cooking in Concert'' and a 1996 sequel, "More Cooking in Concert.'' Child also had been collaborating on a memoir with a grandnephew, Alex Prud'homme, and had completed two chapters, said her longtime editor at Knopf, Judith Jones. Work on the memoir likely will continue and it is expected to be published.
Child's husband died in 1994. A longtime resident of Cambridge, Mass., she moved to Santa Barbara in late 2001. The couple had no children. A private memorial service was planned, but Child asked that no funeral be held.”
So what about this place Julia is buried? Neptune Memorial Reef “is an underwater columbarium in what was conceived by the creator as the world's largest man-made reef (covering over 600,000 square feet of ocean floor) at a depth of 40 feet. It was originally conceived by Gary Levine and designed by artist Kim Brandell and known as the Atlantis Reef Project or the Atlantis Reef. As of 2012, the Reef occupies a half-acre space, but a planned expansion 16 acres is underway. The city design involves underwater roads leading to a central feature with benches and statuary. The place was chosen at 3.25 miles (5.2 km) off the coast of Key Biscayne, Florida. It is a type of burial at sea and the first phase is estimated to be able to accommodate 850 remains, with an eventual goal of more than 125,000 remains. Though often referred to in news articles as an underwater mausoleum or underwater cemetery, the Neptune Society Memorial Reef meets the criterion for neither. Cremated remains are mixed with cement to form features of the Reef, and memorial plaques are added. The Reef is more correctly identified as a cremation memorial site.”
I couldn’t find anything on why Julia wished to be buried there and would be super interested in finding out why! Have you discussed what you want done with your remains? It seems morbid but it is so so soooo important to have these discussions with your friends and family. I would encourage you to use today’s recipe as a time to reflect on what you want done with your body, meaning burial or cremation. And then think about where you would like this to take place. If you are cremated you have many options but none of this will happen if you don’t let your family know! Create a folder and email it to everyone, and don’t forget, fill out an Advance Directive so that the person who is legally in charge of your remains knows what to do!
To celebrate Miss Child I have chosen one of her favorite recipes, Vichyssoise, a yummy potato leek soup!
Ingredients
1/2 cup vegetable oil ( I use grapeseed)
5 large shallots, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons unsalted butter ( I use Earth Balance)
3 large leeks, white and tender green, thinly sliced crosswise
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup dry white wine
8 cups chicken stock ( I use Not-Chick'n Edward & Sons Bouillon Cubes)
1 1/2 pounds red potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-inch chunks
2 bay leaves
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 1/2 cups milk ( I use soy milk)
1 cup light cream (I use coconut cream)
1/2 cup minced fresh chives
Directions
In a saucepan, heat the oil over moderately high heat until shimmering. Add the shallots and cook over moderately low heat, stirring often, until golden, about 5 minutes. Transfer to paper towels.
Melt the butter in a large nonreactive saucepan. Add the leeks and onion and cook over moderately low heat, stirring, until softened but not browned, about 12 minutes. Add the wine and cook over moderately high heat until reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Add the stock, potatoes, bay leaves, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then simmer over low heat, partially covered, until the potatoes are tender, about 25 minutes.
Working in batches, puree the soup in a blender, then transfer to a bowl and let cool. Stir in the milk, cream, salt and pepper. Refrigerate until chilled, at least 4 hours or overnight. Season with salt and pepper and garnish with the chives and shallots.