An Ode to Julia

Today I am reeling. And it’s all because of Julia Child. By some stroke of luck the wonderful team at the Culinary Trust Institute, USA selected me (cue: happy dance and disbelief) as the 2012 recipient of the Julia Child Independent Study Grant. The competition was fierce. Evidently the committee had to reconvene several times in order for a final decision to be made. And I am so very, very grateful to have been selected.

Julia Child once said “if you can read, you can cook”. She then proceeded to take the grandest, the most unapproachable cuisine in the world and turn it into dinner. She is a huge inspiration to me and I know so many millions of hungry people across the world. I like her because she was devoid of pomp and circumstance. She was a cook. And cook is what she did without any of the other bullshit that seems to have pervaded our culinary repertoire. If rewriting the rulebook on food wasn’t enough, she was truly generous and left a benevolent fund for food hopefuls like me to develop their dreams; just another testament to her generosity that expanded well beyond, but always remained connected to, the kitchen table.

So in the next few months I’m off to Paris. And New York. And a few other very exciting places for research. No doubt with my well-thumbed copy of Mastering the Art, tucked under my arm. And I can’t wait for this super exciting project to come to fruition.

Julia, I hope I do you proud.

Let the eating begin.