Julia Child Inspirational Quotes

The more you know, the more you can create. There's no end to imagination in the kitchen.

If variety is the spice of life, then my life must be one of the spiciest you ever heard of. A curry of a life. -Paul Child

I discovered that when one follows the artist's eye one sees unexpected treasures in so many seemingly ordinary scenes.

...The more I learned the more I realized how very much one has to know before one is in-the-know at all.

In Paris in the 1950s, I had the supreme good fortune to study with a remarkably able group of chefs. From them I learned why good French good is an art, and why it makes such sublime eating: nothing is too much trouble if it turns out the way it should. Good results require that one take time and care. If one doesn't use the freshest ingredients or read the whole recipe before starting, and if one rushes through the cooking, the result will be an inferior taste and texture--a gummy beef Wellington, say. But a careful approach will result in a magnificent burst of flavor, a thoroughly satisfying meal, perhaps even a life-changing experience. Such was the case with the sole meunière I ate at La Couronne on my first day in France, in November 1948. It was an epiphany. In all the years since the succulent meal, I have yet to lose the feelings of wonder and excitement that it inspired in me. I can still almost taste it. And thinking back on it now reminds me that the pleasures of table, and of life, are infinite--toujours bon appétit!

What impressed me most was how hard [Julia Child] worked, how devoted she was to the "rules" of la cuisine française while keeping herself open to creative exploration, and how determined she was to persevere in the face of setbacks. Julia never lost her sense of wonder and inquisitiveness. She was, and is, a great inspiration.

Page 92 "Of course, the Lord talks to you more as you talk to Him more. It's like most other relationships, the Lord loves to have you talk to Him! Several years ago I asked the Lord what I, insignificant speck that I am, could do to minister to His heart in some small way. I said 'Father, you have such terrible burdens. You have the whole world and all of its troubles to look after. Is it possible for me to do anything, to give you pleasure, or to minister to your heart?' His answer was 'Yes! Talk to Me child! Talk to me. Most people only ask Me for things. They aren't willing to talk to Meand make Me a part of their everyday life.' That's what He wants. God desires to have our fellowship.

Once in a great while, she was distressed by the way she looked. As she was rounding the bend to forty she would write to Avis DeVoto that whenever she read Vogue she "felt like a frump....but I suppose that is the purpose of all of it, to shame people out of their frumpery so they will go out and buy 48 pairs of red shoes, have a facial, pat themselves with deodorizers, buy a freezer, and put up the new crispy window curtains with a draped valence." Julia was able to deconstruct the disingenuous motives that drive women's magazines with the ease she normally reserved for deboning a duck, seeing quite clearly that while ostensibly offering inspiration and useful advice, the stories and articles quietly pummel the reader's sense of self, the better to drive her into the arms of the advertisers.