# Rude article about Julia Child: "Do Not Buy her Book" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 2, 2009, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-article-about-julia-child-do-not-buy-her-book/508667 "2009-09-02T18:55:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-article-about-julia-child-do-not-buy-her-book/508667/21 "2009-09-02T23:21:50Z")
> [@Algher](#): > > The author is pathetic. I have two of Julia’s books. I am, at best, dilettante in the kitchen. My yuppie stainless steel fridge has both Del Taco leftovers AND a collection of artisan cheeses, shallots, random mushrooms, and cream. > > I cook fancy every other week if I can. I regularly purge cookbooks, yet I always keep the Julia Child pieces BECAUSE they are fantastic sources. I am not a trained chef, a restaurateur, or any other classification. I don’t tired reading what it takes to make a great dish - I get inspired. Might I cheat with boxed stock if I am in a hurry? Absolutely. However, I will also later make homemade stock when I have the time. > > Bah humbug (and I am finally going to see the movie this weekend). You should look into getting a Larousse Gastronomie … it is an encyclopedia for professional chefs, that acts like sort of an uber cookbook for french cooking. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-article-about-julia-child-do-not-buy-her-book/508667/22 "2009-09-02T23:24:13Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > I happen to know from personal experience that a novice cook is not going to be too intimidated to try the recipes. As a matter of fact, the first recipe I made from scratch was the beef bourgignon. > > I learned to cook from Julia Child, and one of the major lessons was that whatever you like is the right way to make it. And that you learn the recipe well enough that you can modify it. It certainly is. > > Regards, > Shodan First thing I made solo was Pintade au Riz Sauvage … but I didnt have guinea fowl, so I used cornish game hens instead =) I was 8 years old. That started my love of fussing in the kitchen. ---
**Author:** ![Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swords_to_Plowshares)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-article-about-julia-child-do-not-buy-her-book/508667/23 "2009-09-03T03:17:37Z")
Even if you accept the premise that this is a book review, the author should not state in big bold letters “Do Not Buy This Book”. Clearly, the book probably should not be bought by those who don’t want to put a lot of effort into cooking, but why should Squash Lady expect all her readers to be like that? Some may actually want to improve their cooking skills or challenge themselves, and Child’s book would be perfect for them. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-article-about-julia-child-do-not-buy-her-book/508667/24 "2009-09-03T03:27:00Z")
I’ve never read her book(s) but I watched her shows from as soon as the local PBS station broadcast them. I know diddly about cooking otherwise, but if that drunken old lady could cook it I’m sure I could. And she taught me the (limited) value of clarified butter. (Buddy, if the taste of butter solids offends you, maybe you should start with canola oil.) Note that I refer to her (apparent) perpetual tipsiness. I grew up around women whose ACTUAL perpetual tipsiness pushed them toward the Canned and Frozen Goodness diet for their families. Women who thought that Manwich (canned ketchup plus ground beef you bought on your own) was haute cuisine. ETA: Cooking them all in order appeals to me and my similarly OCD daughter. Note that it’s the “in order” part that appeals to us, though some good eats will also transpire. ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-article-about-julia-child-do-not-buy-her-book/508667/25 "2009-09-03T03:53:39Z")
Where does this “drunken old lady” thing come from? The story seems to be something along the lines of “Add a cup of wine to the skillet, and here’s one for the chef.” I can believe she might have said that in a show, but that doesn’t mean she was a drunken old lady. Last year, my son volunteered to bring croissants to his 8th grade French class end-of-the-year party. He likes cooking, so I asked him if he’d like to make croissants. He said yes, and I pulled out _Mastering_ volume one, and we went at it. We had a blast. Buy the books! ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-article-about-julia-child-do-not-buy-her-book/508667/26 "2009-09-03T04:45:27Z")
Every house I ever ate in growing up probably had a copy of that book. So far I know nobody ever cooked from them. I’m sure people do, but I think there is a significant population for whom it is like having _A Brief History of Time_ on the coffee table back in the early '90s. Everybody had it, hardly anybody had read it. So I wouldn’t be surprised if the author’s premise is basically correct (though obviously universally). That said, even if she’s right, there are worse things in the world that aspirational book buying. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-article-about-julia-child-do-not-buy-her-book/508667/27 "2009-09-03T04:58:37Z")
> [@Swords\_to\_Plowshares](#): > > Even if you accept the premise that this is a book review, the author should not state in big bold letters “Do Not Buy This Book”. Why not? Isn’t the purpose of a book review to let readers know if they should or should not read the book being reviewed? What’s wrong with stating the reviewer’s conclusion in the title of the article? ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-article-about-julia-child-do-not-buy-her-book/508667/28 "2009-09-03T07:13:22Z")
**Miller** , please stop trying to hijack the thread. The topic is: this article is rude. You can agree or disagree, but quit trying to make a meta argument out of it. I don’t know what your point is and I doubt anyone, including you, really cares. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-article-about-julia-child-do-not-buy-her-book/508667/29 "2009-09-03T07:52:02Z")
The writer might not have even picked the title. It’s like in the newspaper world; the reporters might suggest headlines for their stories, but copy editors (like me) are ultimately the ones responsible. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-article-about-julia-child-do-not-buy-her-book/508667/30 "2009-09-03T09:45:13Z")
I don’t have any of her books to hand, but I’m pretty sure in the preface Julia explains that her recipes aren’t authentically French, they’re simplified versions of the real thing, specifically adapted so that America housewives will have no trouble obtaining ingredients, or understanding specialized cooking techniques. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-article-about-julia-child-do-not-buy-her-book/508667/31 "2009-09-03T09:50:01Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > I’ve never read her book(s) but I watched her shows from as soon as the local PBS station broadcast them. I know diddly about cooking otherwise, but if that drunken old lady could cook it I’m sure I could. And she taught me the (limited) value of clarified butter. (Buddy, if the taste of butter solids offends you, maybe you should start with canola oil.) > > Note that I refer to her (apparent) perpetual tipsiness. I grew up around women whose ACTUAL perpetual tipsiness pushed them toward the Canned and Frozen Goodness diet for their families. Women who thought that Manwich (canned ketchup plus ground beef you bought on your own) was haute cuisine. > > ETA: Cooking them all in order appeals to me and my similarly OCD daughter. Note that it’s the “in order” part that appeals to us, though some good eats will also transpire. For real Tipsy Cooking, check out Sandra Lee’s [Semi-Homemade](http://www.semihomemade.com/) on Food TV. Most of her shows include a couple of killer cocktails. The less said about her food, the better–although the folks at TwoP have devoted 16 pages to Ms Lee’s culinary atrocities. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-article-about-julia-child-do-not-buy-her-book/508667/32 "2009-09-03T10:30:10Z")
Cisco writes: \> The whole article reads like it was written by a jealous coulda-shoulda-woulda- \> never-has-been. lisacurl writes: \> You’ve pretty much described the majority of Slate’s content. TheFifthYear writes: \> That’s about 90% of Slate’s content. “X is now popular or the conventional \> wisdom, so we’ll write an article about how X is wrong.” Mastering the Art of \> French Cooking makes the best seller list? Write an article slamming it. Really? Could you give me some examples of these sorts of articles from _Slate_? I’ve just looked through the recent table of contents and I don’t see that they’re doing that sort of article very much. ---
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-article-about-julia-child-do-not-buy-her-book/508667/33 "2009-09-03T12:41:03Z")
My fiancee is a classically trained, educated French chef. I, on the other hand, am not. He is actually teaching me gourmet cooking using her cookbook as a model. I can bake like the dickens, but cook… I need Julia’s help! It’s great for a novice chef like myself. I mean, I can make Mac and Cheese, and know a few decent casserole recipes, but fancy cooking? She’s helping me the whole way. ---
**Author:** ![TheFifthYear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@TheFifthYear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheFifthYear)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-article-about-julia-child-do-not-buy-her-book/508667/34 "2009-09-03T12:48:52Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Really? Could you give me some examples of these sorts of articles from _Slate_? I’ve just looked through the recent table of contents and I don’t see that they’re doing that sort of article very much. 90% was, of course, hyperbole, but they do have a definite contrarian slant. In fact, googling “slate contrarian” will bring up some example articles, as well as criticisms. Here’s a quote from Jonah Goldberg’s criticism of the magazine (solicited by themselves on the occasion of their 10th anniversary): > [@](#): > > What was once Kinsley’s contrarian instinct has been dogmatized into official corporate policy. Weisberg has admitted as much in interviews. Freelancers especially seem to have figured out how to get through Slate’s editorial defenses: Pitch a story, any story, that’s counterintuitive, and someone on the receiving end will say “brilliant!” From Eric Alterman: > [@](#): > > It’s not easy trying to be as smart as Mike Kinsley; in fact, for mere mortals like you and me, it’s impossible. I’ve always thought the biggest problem over at Slate is that nobody there got the memo that read “Don’t try this at home,” (or in the office, for that matter). More often than once a week, there’s someone over there making some contrarian argument for the sake of contrariness with none of Kinsley’s brilliance, panache or, ironically, intellectual modesty. Here’s another, from Brendan Nyhan: > [@](#): > > [T]he problem with Slate is that it’s virtually content-free. There’s almost never new reporting, so the articles have to present really smart takes on the news to be worth reading. But as Alterman points out, there’s only one Michael Kinsley, so instead you get a lot of faux-clever “everything you know is wrong” pieces, which almost never succeed. ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-article-about-julia-child-do-not-buy-her-book/508667/35 "2009-09-03T13:05:54Z")
If this woman really cared about the state of how Americans are eating, she would be encouraging people to buy this book, and use it, to try to master cooking a few complicated dishes because when you do, you realize that cooking simpler things isn’t such a chore after all. If one crazy Saturday night you cook up and serve a beouf bourginwhatever then maybe putting some butter and herbs on a chicken and putting it into the oven on a Wednesday won’t seem so daunting and that when you do the math, it’s both more economical and more healthful than buying another bucket of KFC, even the new “grilled” kind. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-article-about-julia-child-do-not-buy-her-book/508667/36 "2009-09-03T13:13:00Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > **Miller** , please stop trying to hijack the thread. The topic is: this article is rude. You can agree or disagree, but quit trying to make a meta argument out of it. I don’t know what your point is and I doubt anyone, including you, really cares. Thank you. You’d be wrong. I’m as confused as **Miller**. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-article-about-julia-child-do-not-buy-her-book/508667/37 "2009-09-03T13:34:06Z")
> [@tumbleddown](#): > > If this woman really cared about the state of how Americans are eating, she would be encouraging people to buy this book, and use it, to try to master cooking a few complicated dishes because when you do, you realize that cooking simpler things isn’t such a chore after all. If one crazy Saturday night you cook up and serve a beouf bourginwhatever then maybe putting some butter and herbs on a chicken and putting it into the oven on a Wednesday won’t seem so daunting and that when you do the math, it’s both more economical and more healthful than buying another bucket of KFC, even the new “grilled” kind. Hell you could fake up a pintade au riz sauvage by cooking up a batch of long grain and wild rice in chicken broth with an onion and a tomato chopped into it at the beginning of the cooking, split a cornish game hen in half front to back [so each piece has a leg and wing and breast] then gently sauteing it in butter and olive oil that has been used to saute up a clove of garlic, and then sliding the whole bird in halves into a vessel one can roast the birdy bits in, while sauteing a tad of flour in the drippings until it is a roux then deglazing with white wine. Put half the rice on each plate, flop a bird half on the rice, spooge the sauce on top [not assininely decoratively around on the plate where you cant _taste_ it on the food] and slap on the table with a nice tossed salad and something nice to drink. Probably about half an hour of actual prep time spread out over about an hour, and a very nice dinner for 2 or 4 [1 game hen per 2 people for a light service, I suppose you can do a whole game hen per person but i dont do huge servings. Id rather do small portions of protein.fat and large portions of fruit and veggies.] ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-article-about-julia-child-do-not-buy-her-book/508667/38 "2009-09-03T13:35:41Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > You’d be wrong. I’m as confused as **Miller**. Wonderful. Then the two of you will have each other to keep company somewhere else. Two dozen other people get it just fine. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-article-about-julia-child-do-not-buy-her-book/508667/39 "2009-09-03T13:44:38Z")
No. I like it in this thread just fine, thank you, and will continue to read along just as I have before. I’m simply correcting your mistaken impression that no one understands or cares about **Miller** ’s quite simple point. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-article-about-julia-child-do-not-buy-her-book/508667/40 "2009-09-03T13:46:03Z")
Cisco, if you think that Miller and Aesiron are doing something that’s against the rules of the SDMB, then ask a moderator to tell them so. Otherwise, you can’t tell them to get out of your thread just because you don’t like their posts. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-article-about-julia-child-do-not-buy-her-book/508667.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-article-about-julia-child-do-not-buy-her-book/508667.md?page=3)