Demystifying Deliciousness; Structures With Deep Meaning; Poisoning A River; Saving the James; Oatmeal Cream Pie Heaven.
RVA 5x5 - ALT 5 - March 18, 2024
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This week check out our five stories on:
Julia Child changed the way millions saw food preparation and creativity and demystified recipes and attitudes towards cooking, and the Virginia Museum of History & Culture offers an appetizing new exhibit.
Architectural historian extraordinaire Ed Slipek has some great quotes about the Richmond Community Hospital and what lessons old buildings can teach us.
A look back at the Kepone environmental disaster that happened 50 years ago this month that almost destroyed the James River.
A new book that looks at the bright side of the Kepone disaster and the numerous environmental efforts that were born in its wake that are thriving and protecting so much of Virginia decades later.
The way to the heart is (of course) through oatmeal cream pies, and one local business owner who was down to $300 during the pandemic now has her own storefront and is baking and making deliciousness everyday with purpose.
THE ALT 5
ALT #1 — OFF THE BEATEN PATH: Demystifying Deliciousness
The Virginia Museum of History and Culture (VMHC) has opened the traveling exhibit “Julia Child: A Recipe for Life” that will be on display until September 2nd, and it is inspirational for both the mind and the stomach.
The exhibit looks at Julia’s insatiable curiosity and tenacious spirit drove her to endlessly try, test, prove and communicate how to make delicious food. Learning to cook empowered Julia and she in turn empowered others, profoundly transforming American cuisine and food culture.
And the exhibit explores her life’s arch and evolution that included a career in Office of Strategic Services (the predecessor to the CIA) but evolved into her love for cooking that did not begin until her 40’s. And while her love of French cuisine and cooking was well known, she embraced a continual curiosity of learning about all different types of food and teaching it to the experienced as well as the experimental cook.
Her 1983 book Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 1: A Cookbook was a huge best-seller and became a phenomenon that taught millions how to create French dishes in American kitchens using techniques of French cooking but with American ingredients and offering plenty of variations. James Beard said of the book, “I only wish that I had written it myself.”
The 1999 publication of Cooking at Home book alongside her friend Jacques Pepin is a staple in the cooking world and as one reviewer put it: What's most important here--and it shows up in the cookbook--is that there is no one way to cook. The point of the book isn't to follow recipes, but to cook from the suggestions. And Julia and Jacques have many, many suggestions when it comes to home cooking in the French style. And many tips, for that matter.
The accompanying Cooking at Home TV show with Pepin saw her meteoric rise in popularity and both of them creating and establishing the concept and popularity of cooking shows and celebrity chefs on TV.
New York Times food critic Mimi Sheraton said of the book, “Julia freed the American public from their fears of cooking French. By doing so, she greatly expanded the audience for all serious food writers. Her demystification prepared that public for the rest of us. I believe that the television shows based on that landmark book did even more to encourage reluctant cooks to try their hands . . . much to our benefit.”
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