“Can a society be great if its bread tastes like Kleenex?” probed the New York Times in a 1966 article lauding the (now late) great Julia Child. Her unequivocal antidote, recounted grand-nephew Alex Prud’homme in a reading from his new book The French Gourmet in America: Julia Child’s Second Act, was Child’s gourmet-fication of America thru her weekly television series The French Chef — a program once described as “campier than Batman, farther-out than Lost in Space, and more penetrating than Meet the Press.”
Prud’homme held court along with dozens of wine-makers, chefs, artisans, restaurateurs, and connoisseurs last weekend at the Bacara Resort & Spa for the fourth annual Santa Barbara Food and Wine Weekend, a three-day tour de force of lectures, cooking demonstrations, tastings, and receptions to benefit The Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts.
Kicking off the festivities this year was James Beard Award recipient and La Brea Bakery founder Nancy Silverton, whose passion for Mediterranean-inspired dishes was in full effect at the Santa Barbara Vintners’ Wine Reception, serving up hand-pulled mozzarella alongside pourings from twelve area winemakers.