Tag Archives: travel

My love for Julia Child started long before I discovered food and long before I started photographing it. I remember watching the show with my mother while I was growing up. My brother was even into it, he’d walk in and, without a word sit down to watch with us. There we were the three of us mesmerized by Julia.

The funny thing is that I have no recollection of my mother ever attempting to cook any of her recipes. We never even talked about her food…we would just watch. It wasn’t about the technical details of her recipes for my family; it was completely 100% about Julia. Throughout my life, Julia’s show always had the ability to make me stop whatever I was doing and watch. It was as if I was back home again with my mother and brother, sharing those afternoons with Julia.

Fast forward to 2004. I was in D.C. editing a story at National Geographic. I was in a really bad place too. The assignment I was working on was getting the best of me and I felt like I didn’t have the pictures to show for it. I was feeling pretty insecure and kind of doubtful about my future. I woke up one morning in my hotel to headlines in the Washington Post about Julia Child’s death. I read her obituary that instant, then re-read it again and again. I was so taken by it that I even cut it out and saved it – I still have it to this day. I learned more about Julia’s life and her career in that obituary then I had gleaned from watching her all those years. She didn’t discover her passion for food until her late 30’s; the next ten years she would spend writing a book she lamented over and rewrote several times, testing the recipes endlessly. After several false starts, in 1961 Mastering the Art of French Cooking was finally published, and went on to earn national acclaim and become a best-seller. We all know the rest of the story, how Julia’s life and career developed and how she went on to become an icon in American cooking.

In 2001, Julia Child donated her kitchen in its entirety to the Smithsonian’s American History Museum in D.C. Her husband Paul had designed this kitchen just for her; it had special high counters to accommodate her height, and it was also the same kitchen where most of her show had been taped.

After learning of her death, I knew I needed to visit Julia’s kitchen at the Smithsonian. The moment I came upon it, I was moved. I studied every detail in the kitchen and read every word on display. Eventually, after an hour I found myself cross-legged on the floor of the museum, watching old Julia shows. That afternoon, her kitchen became a great source of inspiration to me. It somehow provided me with the encouragement I’d especially needed that week, a reminder to keep pushing through the struggles and setbacks in my own career the way Julia had. It also made me realize how important it is to just keep moving in the direction you want your life to be, no matter how many no’s or maybe’s you hear. Since then, I have read every book I could find on Julia and purchased the box set of her old shows, drawing as much encouragement and inspiration as I could from her life and her work. And when I go back to see the kitchen in D.C., I’m still moved just as much as I was the first time I visited. It’s like going home…one of the safest places on earth…and a reminder to keep pushing towards your dreams.