I mean this in the nicest way possible: Julia Child seems obsessed with food. Pardon the cliche, but she is like a sponge and wants to absorb every food, recipe, technique, etc associated with French cuisine. She truly is a woman on a mission who wants to know everything there is, but when she learns something new or has this fantastic experience, it only reminds her of how much she doesn't know or how much she still has to learn. However, she does this all with a remarkably positive attitude. I admire her for that.
Back to the Barthes quote. We can all relate to the idea that food "transmits a situation." It is what most of our class discussion are based upon when we talk about food memories and experiences. For Child, starting with her first meal in France, we see how food functions for her. Tasting sole completely transformed her. She didn't know food could be this good. Food is an adventure. Food is information. Food is living. I believe Child herself says something to the effect that she wasn't alive before she came to France. She never gave a second thought to the food she ate, even though she does remember a few French meals from her childhood, and food was never anything special. It is as if France tapped into something that wasn't tapped before. Child needed to go to France in order to make the discoveries about food that she did. I don't think we would have the icon of Julia Child if she didn't.
As of now, I am in the part of the memoir where she and her two friends are trying to write the cookbook and I am amazed at the time, energy, sweat, and diligence that goes into the construction of each recipe. She wants the book to be relevant to American audiences and it won't be with some hardcore revising and restructuring. This is another aspect of how food functions for Child, but I am not sure how to articulate it. She wants food to be accessible...she wants good food to be accessible. Maybe this point is better suited for another aspect of the quote. French cuisine definitely signifies something special for Child. French food signifies class, knowledge, culture, everything that she felt she was missing in her "American" life.
The biggest difference between Child and Reichl is how they came to be interested in food. For Reichl, it was something she always thought about and was often a source of comfort, escape, confidence, and an assortment of other things. Even if it was her mom's bad cooking or an experience with an exotic dish, Reichl always had food on the brain. Child, on the other hand, came to appreciate and love food later in life and when she discovered it, she cannon-balled right in. While Child was proactive about learning about food, Reichl seemed rather passive. Sure, she would explore neighborhoods and find their hidden delicacies, but I wouldn't put her investigating on the same level as Julia Child's. Child wasn't content with talking to the locals in the market, she enrolled at Cordon Bleu! Child instantly knew that she wanted to share her knowledge and experiences with the masses, while Reichl came to it in a lifelong journey that ended with someone finally asking her, "Do you think you could write restaurant reviews?"
What do you think Child signifies for the American audience?
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