Julia Child is mourned around the world, but she lives on in the quaint town of Santa Barbara, where she lived from 2001 until her death at age 91 in 2004. Her presence regularly draws long lines outside La Super Rica Taqueria, the AC Postel Memorial Rose Garden, where the rose named after her is in constant bloom, and the many other places that similarly call the area home. It's felt in the hearts of the chefs and vintners who call it that.
This is especially true during Taste of Santa Barbara (TOSB). The community, her third in recent years, will be a week-long gathering of food, drink, and memories with the express intention of remembering Child and celebrating her profound influence on this side of the California she loved. We talked about it.
“Many long-time Santa Barbarans have many stories of seeing Julia around town,” said Todd Shulkin, executive director of the Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts. I have it,” he said. “So I think a lot of people here feel that her legacy still permeates the psyche of the hospitality industry. That's why we do Taste of Santa Barbara. This production. is a distillation of what Julia loved and cherished, and which has grown and grown over time.”
Nowhere was this more evident than on Saturday night's “Lights, Camera, Julia!” Chris Kaiser, executive producer of MAX's series “Julia,” joins series director Gene Lamarck and Alex Prudhomme, Child's grandson and co-author of her memoir, “My Life,” on screen. We discussed Child's living legacy both inside and outside the organization. In France. “Viewers watched a bag of butter-flavored popcorn, one of Child's favorite snacks, as Kaiser screened clips from “Julia” alongside original footage from his PBS show “French His Chef.” Enjoyed drinking wine in his hoodie. Julia continues to captivate audiences, both then and now.
Shulkin has spent his life honoring Child's heritage and homeland. He has witnessed how her positivity and contagious sense of humor have inspired generations of people to cook and live in her image to this day. Through events like her TOSB, he hopes to continue to foster community-wide connections to the Child while drawing attention to the American Riviera.
“The food, the wine, the palm trees, the hills, the rugged rocks, the dust from the occasional heavy rainstorm – everything is very Provence,” Prud'homme said. “And I think that was one of the reasons she came back to settle here.”
Prudhomme remembers taking her to farmers' markets in the last year of her life and the joy that inevitably came from connecting with the people and the land. Child may have been a world-famous celebrity, but he was a neighbor and friend in Santa Barbara.
“She knew the olive man, the strawberry woman, the lavender man and just loved it. She was a very human person,” he said.
Whether in the kitchen or outdoors, Child has lived a life worth emulating. Her recipes are more than just ingredients and how to make them; they are a guide to a way of life.
She expressed it best herself. “This is my constant advice to people: Learn how to cook. Try new recipes, learn from your mistakes, be fearless, and most of all, have fun.”
