BY CHUCK MARTIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
![[child]](/editions/1998/11/16/child_140x160.jpg)
Julia Child is escorted by restaurant owner Jimmy Gherardi.
(Aimee Obidzinski photo)
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Julia Child sat fully dressed, hair perfectly coiffed, at the edge of her bed early Sunday morning, nibbling leftover wedding cake. The night before, someone presented her with a slice of the pretty pink and white cake. And now, the most famous cook in America was carefully dissecting it.
"At first I thought the topping was made with some kind of vegetable shortening," she said, in that familiar, high-pitched warble. "But I believe it's real buttercream, and it's good."
At 86, the grand dame of the kitchen is just as insatiably curious about cooking and food as she was nearly 50 years ago, when she began work on Mastering the Art of French Cooking (Knopf; $30), the first of a two-volume cookbook series that launched her career and helped change the way we eat.
"You have to passion to learn," she said, "and you must keep learning."
Mrs. Child came to Cincinnati to be part of the Niehoff Lecture panel discussion at the Mercantile Library, downtown, Saturday night. For nearly an hour during the noisy cocktail reception, she sat perched on a stool, surrounded by black satin lapels, strands of pearls and flashing cameras.
Clutching their favorite cookbooks, the faithful anxiously approached Mrs. Child to ask for an autograph, touch her knee and hold her hand. Like a kindly queen, she tilted her head close to greet each of her subjects with a smile and genuine questions: "What do you do?" "What do you like to cook?" "How long have you cooked?"
After dinner, during a panel discussion of food trends, she railed against the "diet and nutrition people" for ruining the beef industry.
"The beef is too lean," she said. "You can't get a decent prime steak anymore."
The audience roared.
She has written nine cookbooks, hosted eight television cooking shows, organized culinary organizations and nurtured professional cooking schools, causing some to call her a true American icon.
Fans who meet her know she is more: witty, gracious and personable. Just like the woman standing behind the counter on the TV screen.
"This really is my business," she said, while eating breakfast Sunday morning, wearing pants, snappy black silk jacket and floral-printed blouse. "I'm there to sell books. But it's nice because I'm fed well and get to meet nice people."
Obviously, the nibbles of wedding cake haven't dulled her appetite. For her morning meal, Mrs. Child ordered fresh berries, two eggs, (sunny side up) three slices of bacon, white toast, juice and coffee. She asked for and received extra butter.
Age has stooped her 6-foot-2-inch frame, and she uses a cane to walk. But her eyes are as blue and bright as the 22 year-old who graduated from Smith College in 1934.
After pondering it for a few seconds, Mrs. Child declares she is encouraged by the state of cooking in America, especially by the number of people entering cooking schools. But she is worried about the way Americans are eating.
"I'm very concerned about family meals," she said. "I think it's up to the parents to insist that the family get together. If they don't, children miss out on important communication."
She cooks her meals at home, at her "pad" in Cambridge, Mass., and she eats with friends as much as possible, since her husband, Paul, died in 1994.
"He was a wonderful dining companion," she said. "I learned a lot from him. He was more sophisticated than I when we met."
After meeting and marrying while working together in the Office of Strategic Services during World War II, the couple was transferred to Paris in 1948. There, Mrs. Child learned to love French food and attended the famous Cordon Bleu cooking school.
"The food is cooked with care in France," she said, smearing more butter on her toast. "That's what makes it the best."
She relentlessly promotes her favorite cuisine. After returning home for a few days this week, she will fly off to Orlando, Fla., to conduct cooking demonstrations at the Epcot Center.
Mrs. Child quickly dismissed talk of retirement. In February, she finished taping a PBS cooking show with friend Jacques Pepin, which will begin airing next fall.
"I think I'm through with my TV, though" she said. "I'm having problems with one of my legs and lurching around a bit. But you never know."
Just a few years ago, Mrs. Child was quoted as saying she'd never write another cookbook.
Now, she's not so sure.
"I'm playing around with the idea of doing a book with my husband's photographs," she said. "It would be a kind of memoir. And there would have to be recipes, of course.
"I just have to find time to do it."
![[child]](/editions/1998/11/16/child_400x457.jpg)