One of the reasons Julia Child can inspire an almost religious fervor in those who followed her — that is, anyone who loves food — is that, like another famous J.C., she told us all to “Take, and eat.” Or maybe that should be, “Cook, and eat.”
For in the 1960s, when most food was frozen and pre-prepared, Child made it clear that food could be fun. And, in perhaps the most revolutionary way, she meant that both as a process — nope, that famed chicken dropped on the floor mid-episode never happened — and the product.
That this famous author and television personality chose to spend the end of her life in the Santa Barbara area should come as no surprise. She visited often while growing up in Pasadena in the 1910s and ’20s, so there was that tug of nostalgia. But Child was also a Francophile that made millions feel the same, thanks to her late-life blockbuster Mastering the Art of French Cooking (written with Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle). How could she not want to come to the American Riviera, then, especially with its elongated growing seasons and burgeoning wine industry?