I don’t normally review magazines but this summer’s issue of Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture is very unique.
This publication focuses entirely on the life of Julia Child. This is significant in that the publication has only once before had an issue with a single focus in the fall of 2001. Apart from this significance, I was impressed at the content of this particular issue. I expected that the issue would be full of documentary styled articles detailing Child’s numerous
cookbooks and television. Furthermore, I expected these articles to show a singular point of view-likely as the cooking genius that she was. I was pleasantly surprised. This issue
contained articles by friends, colleagues, rivals, and Child herself (including an article Child wrote in high school). It also contained interviews, editing notes from her cookbooks, and even love poems from her husband. Together all of these sources give the reader a feeling of really knowing the real person behind the genius. Yes, cooking was her passion and a large part of her life. Yes, she was a very driven person. However, she also loved deeply and had an impish sense of humour that often took people by surprise.