One of my most memorable encounters in business was with Julia Child during the opening of the Williams Sonoma flagship store at Columbus Circle in New York City. Through my work representing clients in the food and restaurant industries I had the opportunity on a couple of occasions to meet Child, the famous food personality who brought French cooking into American homes through her renowned cookbooks and television shows.
Child was among the celebrity guests featured during the festivities in Nov. 2000, which included appearances by lifestyle and culinary icons Lidia Bastianch, Martha Stewart and Todd English; and Chuck Williams, the founder of Williams Sonoma.
The one person who mesmerized the crowd and had the longest line of fans waiting to meet her was Julia Child, the grand dame of American gourmet cooking and home entertaining. Child was autographing copies of her latest cookbook, Julia's Kitchen Wisdom, Essential Recipes and Techniques From a Lifetime of Cooking. Child graciously greeted each fan with her engaging smile and beguiling wit.
When I asked Child, "How do you deal with temperamental chefs," Child responded, "Keep them laughing. When the going gets tough, keep them laughing." She looked at me, content with her clever response. We shared a laugh.
Child had a knack for simplifying the complicated. She was practical and enjoyed a good laugh -- even if the laugh was on her. Her cooking routines were playfully parodied on Saturday Night Live and throughout the entertainment world.
In Kitchen Wisdom, her final book, Child wrote in her chapter on soup, "Once you have mastered a technique, you hardly need look at a recipe again."
When she passed away on Aug. 13, 2004, just 2 days before her 92nd birthday, Child had the last laugh. The culinary icon's last meal was French onion soup. Child mastered a number of recipes in her lifetime -- her greatest ingredient was laughter.
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