Culinary Historians: Julia Child & Simca Beck, April 14

Culinary Historians of Chicago presents:

“Julia and Simca:
A Franco-American Culinary Alliance”

Presented by
David Strauss, PhD


Saturday, April 14, 2012
10 a.m. to Noon
At
Kendall College, School of Culinary Arts
900 N. North Branch Street, Chicago
(Located just north of W. Chicago Ave. at N. Halsted St.)
Free Parking


Julia Child was born nearly 100 years ago, in August 1912. To help celebrate her centennial, Professor David Strauss, a Julia Child devotee, will shed some more interesting light on this already greatly documented American icon. Strauss will explain how one of the seminal events that launched our current gourmet dining craze was the publication of Mastering the Art of French Cooking in 1961. “In rightly celebrating Julia Child for her role in writing this cook book, we often forget that it was a cross-national, collaborative project featuring Julia and her French partner, Simca Beck,” Strauss says. “The story of their lively and sometimes stormy relationship tells us much about the personalities of these two women, while also revealing cultural differences between France and America which fueled their controversies.”

Strauss says that we should recognize the partnership’s role in enabling the two authors to produce a classic cookbook. “Without Julia’s insistence on educating American housewives in basic cooking skills and Simca’s knowledge of the recipes available to middle-class French households, the book would not have succeeded. Even so, we should not underestimate the good fortune of the authors to publish Mastering the Art of French Cooking in 1961, the year the Kennedys hired a French chef in the White House.”

BIO: David Strauss is professor emeritus of history at Kalamazoo College where he taught courses in American cultural history for 29 years. Recipient of two Fulbright grants, Strauss has also taught American Studies at the University of Lyon, France, and Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan. In addition to Setting the Table for Julia Child: Gourmet Dining in America, 1934-1961 (2011), Strauss has published Percival Lowell: The Culture and Science of a Boston Brahmin (2001) and Menace in the West: The Rise of French Anti-Americanism in Modern Times (1978).

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Cost of the lecture program is $5, $3 for students and no charge for CHC members and Kendall students and faculty. To reserve, please e-mail your reservation to: Culinary.Historians@gmail.com

Hi,

A reminder this is coming up on Saturday.

The speaker is bringing Sweetwater Donuts from Kalamazoo, MI.

Regards,

dang. I wish I could go. Julia and her husband were family friends of my parents, and she baby sat me a few times.
My mother was the "guest of honor" at her show's first taping.
Do you know if there is a recording/video being made that I could get a copy of?

exvaxman wrote:and she baby sat me a few times.

Whoa! We appreciate your posts about all things WI but come on, you've been holding out on us

exvaxman wrote:dang. I wish I could go. Julia and her husband were family friends of my parents, and she baby sat me a few times.
My mother was the "guest of honor" at her show's first taping.
Do you know if there is a recording/video being made that I could get a copy of?

HI,

Almost always there is a podcast available a few weeks later. I will post it here when it is available.

Do you recall the circumstance your parent's knew her? OSS? Foreign services? Curious minds want to know! It is nice to have a connection where it was pre her ascent. Everyone else I know who knew her had a professional relationship.

Regards,

boudreaulicious wrote:

exvaxman wrote:and she baby sat me a few times.

Whoa! We appreciate your posts about all things WI but come on, you've been holding out on us

How cool is that? Did she make awesome popcorn or grilled cheese for you?

I was very young at the time. My parents were "old school" Boston. Mom was introduced to Julia by a specialty grocer who said that they were the only two women who actually knew what they wanted and made specific requests (before Julia's book was published). He said that they had to be introduced to each other. They were and Dad and her husband became friends quickly - Dad was recruited by Bill Donovan but stayed with what he was (scout for Patton). He got along very well with Julia's husband because Dad ended up being a "Pentagon Named Person" and a White House adviser. To be honest, I remember this very tall woman who talked "normally" when she visited and then was very funny. Her husband was always "staid".

I remember Dad complaining that going to the first appearance of Julia on TV in Boston was a royal pain - mainly due to parking.

Dad was a friend of JFK and stayed a WH advisor through Johnson/Nixon on certain issues. Dad told me stories of hitting south Boston bars with JFK when JFK was first running for minor office. Several other stories are not for public ears. BTW - one time I was at home and the WH called asking for Dad. I spent a half hour talking to Nixon until Dad came to the phone. That was my fault. The guy was charming and helped me with my homework! It was not until five years ago (dad died two years ago) that he let me know why he HATED Nixon. (not public yet, but dear Gosh I would have gone after the man myself). My memories of Julia are really my parent's stories. Usually a joke about the "cooking sherry". I do remember having her showing me how to use a knife cutting up onions for a dish. I had to stand on a chair to reach the counter. There was one time where Joyce Chen and Julia were at our house to try out a menu my mother had been developing for a small embassy in DC that they had contracted her to supervise. There was one time where she invited us for Thanksgiving and as memory serves, I was bored out of my mind being the only kid.

Julia had fun dissing my father because of the microwave. Dad was the "goto" person for Charlie Addams at Raytheon. One day he was in the stacks and had a shelf come down on him. One of the first people there was Percy Spencer. Percy heated up a cup of coffee in the (then huge) microwave for Dad and they talked. At the time Raytheon was was marketing the oven to high end places and had a French Chef on staff (and as a side note - where they were located they had a huge budget to feed the local families that were poor a large Thanksgiving dinner). Dad went in to charlie and asked for a free hand. The French chef was fired, three local places (Wollaston, Quincy, Mass) that were friends of Dad had the expensive ovens installed for free with the experiment of during rush hours heating up pre-made meals to handle the rush. As the phrase goes "history was made" I do have a few more Raytheon stories, but not applicable outside of the rt. 128 crowd. Somewhere I also have a letter from Dr.Tappan and I remember one of his ovens in our house. (the first "home" microwave)

My personal memories of Julia were of a large person who showed up and partnered with my mother in the kitchen and the two of them coming out "looped" with food.

Folks - please email me for questions since I do not check on the groups as much as I should.

Oh - I have to tell this one - when my son was in 2nd grade I brought in a cake, milk, etc. for his birthday. As well as my father who had just recovered from heart surgery and moved to the area so I could take care of him. The 2nd grade teacher as I was cutting the cake told the class that they had a homework assignment of finding out what Percy Spencer invented. I lost it and then asked the teacher it if mattered where they found out the answer. She went "no?". I responded with - Why don't they learn it from his boss?
Dad was low on hearing so I yelled across the room - "DAD! Percy Stories!" The poor teacher freaked.
Dad told me that Percy told him it was an apple, not a chocolate bar that was heated up. YMMV.

exvaxman,

You sound like someone fun to dine with. I will eat and you will tell stories!

Looking forward to the day.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:exvaxman,

You sound like someone fun to dine with. I will eat and you will tell stories!

Looking forward to the day.

Regards,

Ditto.

sounds like fun! I do have to admit Dad was the talker. Many years ago when he went on a promotion to Temple Farms as one of the people who rescued the Lippizans (and of course on TV in Chicago and Milwaukee), the family that owns the place had a lunch for him, my wife and me. One of the people went "you are quiet" and I replied - "with him (dad) talking, who has a chance to have a word in edgewise? "

I rarely get downtown anymore, but if you come close to the border

Sounds like a good person to have at a Culinary Historians event - History of the microwave.