Mothership Meals and Satellite Saucers: Why Julia? Why, Julie? Why Not Me?

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Why Julia? Why, Julie? Why Not Me?

I just finished Julie Powell's book (like 5 minutes ago) (Well more like 50 minutes ago, but I've been obsessively stalking her old blog, website and new blog since I put the book down) (yeah, it's that kind of workday): Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously. For those of you who were not inhabitants of the blogospere circa 2003, nor obsessive readers of the Times' Dining section around the same time, this is the book that came of the blog in which a secretary from Queens set out to cook all 524 recipes in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

Not only does she get all the recipes done -- harder than you might think (taken a look at MtAoFC lately?) and without even the aid of a dishwasher, Kitchenaid mixer, good set of knives, or very intact sense of housekeeping -- but she also gets a book deal.

After my friend Elise read Eat Pray Love , she blogged about it, giving the book a more appropriate title. This is my humble version of that amazing post, because a million times more than the envy I felt while reading Eat Pray Love (yeah, yeah, I've been to Rome, and meditating at 3:30 every morning in an ashram is not my idea of a nice vacation, and sure I'd like to move to Bali and find a wise old healer friend, and then a Brazilian lover, but it didn't eat me up inside or anything) -- Julie and Julia just about killed me.

What a great idea. What an amazing Everest to climb, and without the frost bite and oxygen masks. What an awesome and far more cool trip through culinary school than an actual trip through culinary school.

I realize that Julie Powell suffered in her year. I don't know what it's like to eviscerate a live lobster, to spend a solid week making crepes, to gain 20 lbs in service to your blog, to eat liver and kidneys every day for a week not because you have some weird urge, but rather because that's what week it is, or to have to eat aspic ten different ways -- in January no less. But I'm still wildly jealous -- that she thought of it, that she did it, that she has, in fact, mastered the art of French cooking. Okay, so given the choice, I'd sort of rather master the art of Japanese cooking, but either one would be just fine with me.

Despite my crazy envy, and despite the fact that I didn't totally love the book (it's pretty, um, "bloggy", if you know what I mean; works so great as a blog, but feels grungy and discombobulated dressed up in the finery of a book cover), I also really like the author, who blithely describes finding maggots under her dish rack, decries farmers markets, mocks Alice Waters, and talks about vodka gimlets more lovingly than any of the French food she makes all year. Much as I love farmers' markets and hate vodka, I can't help but feel a fond appreciation for this kind of iconoclasm.

Is there such thing as a Mastering the Art of Japanese Cooking?

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The Mothership Method

(Or, how to sit down for dinner with your family without completely losing your mind)

It would be great if kids AND parents wanted boiled chicken and baby carrots every night for dinner. But, too bad, we picky parents want spicy, exotic, fun foods, and our kids want, well, sorta lame foods.
Here's the solution: break it down. Serve the dish deconstructed, and let everyone put their own dish together at the table. Sort of like tapas, or smorgasbord, or tacos. Or how in some parts of China you get a bowl of rice, and everything else is in the middle of the table and you take what you want for your own little bowl of rice. That way everyone gets to eat what they want, parents don't have to nag their kids, and kids get to feels some ownership over their meals. Plus, kids get exposed to the look and taste of the foods you hope they will one day love. But it's not just tacos. You'll be amazed at what can be served with the Mothership Method.

Ten Tips to Get Through Dinner Without Having A Nervous Breakdown

1. Accept That Kids Are Picky. No need to freak out on your cooking ability, or look at your kids like there is something wrong with them. It's called "neo-phobia", and it's just how they are, especially from ages 3-6.

2. Serve Meals Broken Down. Even grown-up meals like coconut curry or linguine with clams can be served in their elements, making them more appealing to kids. Grown ups can assemble their own jumble of deliciousness at their own plate while kids take on the pared-down elements.

3. Push if it Works, But Don't Nag If It Doesn't. Some kids are okay with being expected to taste everything on their plate. Others aren't. I think it's okay to push kids -- but not if you're turning dinner into a battlefield.

4. Suggest a Smell. Smelling a new food is easier than tasting it, and can sometimes provide a kid with the information needed to take that scary first bite. But don't confine smelling to new foods. Smell favorites, too, and help them develop their sense of smell by making a game out of it.

5. Don't Ask "Do You Like It?" Instead, try, "What does this remind you of?" or, "Would your cousins like this?" or, "Does this taste salty or sweet?". Asking if they like it or not gives kids too much power and ends the conversation. Besides, we don't care if they like it! We just want them to keep tasting it until it is familiar.

6. Don't Get Frustrated. Imagine being in Taiwan, or Nairobi, or Rome for the first time. Would you eat everything on the local menu? New foods are scary and gross. Our kids need time to learn about the foods that we eat.

7. No SubstitutionsThis is family dinner, not a diner. You, in all your wisdom, have provided foods that are healthy and delicious and appropriate for your children. There is something on the table for them to eat. Period.

8. No Snacks Before Dinner. This can be the hardest with our hectic schedules and hungry kids. But children who come to the table hungry are more likely to eat than cause trouble.

9. Put Peer Pressure To Your Advantage. School children are more likely to accept new foods if the alpha girls in their group accept them. Swap healthy food ideas on playdates.

10. Involve Your Kids In Cooking, Shopping, and Gardening. The more experience kids have handling and preparing a variety of foods, the more likely they are to eventually accept the foods. (But don't get upset if they help you make a complicated wonderful meal, and then refuse to eat it.)