Making Julia Childs Proud

by Stephanie and Juliann
on Friday, August 14, 2009

The culinary world is abuzz with anticipation about the new movie Julie & Julia, which tells the story of celebrated chef Julia Childs and blogger Julie Powell. Often touted as the world's first culinary celebrity, Julia Childs' pure love of life and cooking made her show The French Chef, which debuted in 1963, truly endearing.

Her inspirational culinary philosophy was a source of comfort. Just by watching her at work, viewers could feel that cooking was one of life's genuine pleasures influenced by the simple joy of creating something beautiful - and delicious.

Today, the art and love of cooking is dissipating. It's all about fast and easy. We watch cookery shows such as 30 Minute Meals or Semi-Homemade, which encourage us to take shortcuts to get our fast-paced food on the table - pronto. Largely gone are the home cooks in the kitchen slavishly sautéing and simmering to create the perfect rich beef stock. Today, we grab a can of off-the-shelf stock, boil some instant noodles and add a supermarket pack of pre-chopped vegetables. What we really need is a little bit of Julia Childs' pure pride in preparing a great meal from scratch.
In this spirit of adding a little love into our home kitchens, a lesson from one of Shanghai's cooking schools can provide some much-needed inspiration. Check out the classes at Stiller's Cooking School, where Stefan Stiller, the renowned German chef and owner of Stiller's restaurant, shares his classical European cookery secrets with classes of 15-20 people.

Another great option is the Community Centers of Puxi and Pudong. Both offer a tasty menu of cooking classes, ranging from Indian to Chinese to Italian cuisines, plus western cookery lessons for eager-to-learn ayis.

We also hear great things about Chef Norris Chen from The Kitchen At, who teaches small classes an entire menu in a variety of cuisines. After just a few lessons, you should be able to lovingly spice up your homemade dinners with unique menus of Arabic, Thai and Spanish favorites.

We anxiously await the arrival of Julia & Julie in Shanghai, but until then we'll attempt to add a dash of Julia Childs' dedication into our home kitchens, and create exciting dishes purely for the enjoyment of cooking up a storm.