Julie and Julia

Julie and Julia

​Cooking can sometimes be a hassle. After a long day, you just want something quick and easy to prepare, but cooking can be much more than that. In my mind, cooking is a way to listen and tell stories. Each and every recipe that has ever been created has a story behind it, and every time it is recreated, a new chapter is added.

​In the case of Julie and Julia, the first set of stories wascreated by Julia Child as she cooked her way through culinary school and wrote her cook book. Each dish she cooked told a little part of her struggles as a female in the male-dominated world of professional chefs. The next chapters to the recipes were added by Julie as she cooks her way through Julia’s cookbook. They once again show struggle, but instead of struggling to get a position, Julie is struggling to figure out what she truly wants to do with her life. Another difference is the fact that each new chapter is shared with the entire world almost instantaneously through her blog.

Are Chefs Artists?

Are chefs artists? Of course they are. Their medium is food, their canvas is an empty plate, and their brush is a spatula. Their studio is a kitchen and here, they create their masterpieces to share with the world. Instead of seeing or hearing the emotions traditional artists put into their work, you taste it in every bite. Chefs get to be creative, putting together a medley of ingredients like mixing a series of oil paints until the color is just right.

A chef is an artist in many ways. They express themselves through their work and do it for their own enjoyment and for others to enjoy. Although their work does not last, it can still have a profound impact on people. The best example of this in my opinion is a home cooked meal after a long time from home. Just the smell of the food will bring you on flashback through memories of your childhood.

Babette's Feast

                  Food can be a very powerful substance. It can be used to express emotions and to bring people together. In Babette’s Feast, Babette decides to cook a real French feast for the Dean’s 100^th anniversary after she learned that she had won the lottery. Hesitant, the sisters agree but are worried that it will be a sin to indulge in such foods. They and the entire town vow to never speak of the food to avoid sinning.

However, instead of representing sin, the food has a different role. During the feast, the brothers and sisters talk, something they do not usually do. The food lifts their spirits and they tell stories of the past. The people become more open. Instead of representing sin, the food, in a way, represented a higher power.