By Lubna Abdel-Aziz Would you really pass up a 'vol au vent' in favour of 'burger and fries'? Decades ago that would have been an immoral crime of infinite bad taste. Today our lives are so hectic and humming, they 'vol au vent' themselves (flight in the wind') leaving us little time for leisure gastronomical pleasures. Our accelerated lifestyles, economic decline, stressful struggles, as well as the disruption of the family unit, has significantly devalued the art of the kitchen. Following WWII, Americans led the march to the Fast-Food counters, and the rest of the world gladly followed suit. Now, joylessly, we all eat American, no matter where we come from. No one knows when or how people began to cook. We assume cooking developed with the making of fire, some 500,000 years ago. It is most probable however that some meats were broiled over burning wood taken from fires that had started naturally. The Ancient Egyptians cooked mostly over open fires and baked in clay ovens heated with burning wood or charcoal. The ancient Romans used large kettles on raised brick hearths. During the Middle Ages Europe used fireplaces for cooking and broiled meat on a spit. Most families used public 0vens, and it was not until 1833 that the first practical coal burning stove was patented. An art was created out of the necessity of sustenance. Meals became festive events, and every country, every family, every household boasted of their unique specialties. France and the French edged out the rest of us in their love of good food, good wine, and their unrestrained joie de vivre. They honed their culinary skills to create another art form, the art of cuisine. Their delicious sauces, salads and soups became world famous, the optimum skill of any chef, gourmand or gourmet. Each region created its own specialty from truffes (truffles) to escargot (snails), from omelettes to foie gras (goose liver). Little did Americans know or care about such foreign sounding, strange tasting comestibles until 1961 when big, bold, busty, bombastic Julia Child burst on the scene and on the screen. First came the book Mastering the Art of French Cooking co-written with French chefs Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle. It became an instant critical and popular hit. It also made Julia Child a legendary expert on the culinary art and secret skill of French cuisine. The huge 734 page volume became every housewife's favourite bedtime reading. In 1963 television came calling. There stood Julia herself, all of her 1.88 cm height and ? number of kilograms, cutting off chicken heads with her bare hands, dropping and picking, tossing and cutting, stuffing and dressing, and finally creating a succulent miracle fit for kings. Every cook tried it, every household tasted it. Julia Child was on the mouth, taste and belly of every American. Real, simple, amusing, and knowledgeable, she engaged both sexes who watched her show with their mouths drooling. French cuisine competed with hot dogs and hamburgers in every home, and guzzling Americans bowed in gratitude to their French chef, Julia Child. Cooking films are fun (Babette's Feast, Chocolat ), and sooner or later a film had to be made about this remarkable American woman, whose personal life was as interesting and intriguing as her private one. Fifty years later the task was undertaken by writer/director Nora Ephron ( Sleepless in Seattle, You've Got Mail ). Her recent feature, Julie and Julia released August 7th was based on Julia Child's memoirs, My Life in France, published posthumously in 2006. The Julie in the title is the story of Julie Powell, a housewife and devotee of Julia's cooking, who cooked her way through 524 recipes in 365 days. She also wrote her own memoirs : Julie and Julia 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment and Kitchen. The movie is based on those two memoirs, making a tale of two women, who lived in two different ages, and how their lives mingled and matched. Many who worshiped Child, wondered why a film about her alone was not enough for Ephron. The huge talent of Meryl Streep far outweighs that of Amy Adams who portrays Julie Powell. As usual Meryl Streep scores again (two time Oscar winner with an astonishing 15 nominations). She meticulously crafts her way through the character of the fascinating Child that audiences forget about the irritating Julie and are charmed once again by the boundless talent of Meryl Streep, being the legendary American cooking icon, the adored French Chef, Julia Child. Julia Child was a rarity. Born to the affluent John and Julia MacWilliams of Pasadena she attended private schools and graduated from the prestigious Smith College in Massachusetts. Though several inches taller and 10 years younger, Julia Child fell in love and married Paul Cushing Child, a noted gourmet, who introduced her to cooking. Her romance with Paul and Cooking lasted a lifetime. Paul was sent to Paris with the Foreign Service in 1948 and Julia immediately took to everything French, especially the food. Eager to keep busy she joined the Cordon Bleu and the rest is history. She was on TV for three decades attracting audiences with her cheery enthusiasm, distinctively charming, warbly voice, her simple, realistic and funny manner of handling food, much like you and me. Recognized as a powerful cult figure, she received the Peabody Award in 1965, and an Emmy in 1966. Child founded the "American Institute of Wine and Food," an association of restaurants dedicated to the advancement of knowledge about food and wine. The only woman inducted in the Culinary Hall of Fame, she appeared on the cover of Time magazine in 1966, as our Lady of the Ladle. Affectionately imitated in film and on television, her kitchen is on display at the National Museum of American History, her copper pots and pans, at the Smithsonian in Washington DC. Child received the French Legion of Honour in2000, and the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom, as well as several honorary doctorates including Harvard University, and her alma mater Smith College. America's favourite chef died at age 92 in 2003, a living example of how eating wisely, even in French, can lead to a long and healthy life. With the Holy month of Ramadan upon us, this may well be the Cooking Season to revive the culinary arts both on and off the screen. Our poor stomachs deserve a respite from the sinfully fast and furious fare, responsible for such widespread ill-health. We sign off this week, the way the legendary French Chef always did by wishing you all a Bon Appétit. The proof of the pudding is in the eating -- Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes (1547 -- 1616)
