Tim Ryan, president of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., was a friend of Child's. She visited the school often, although she chided the institution for not having enough female students.
"Today there are dozens of cookbooks from notable chefs released every week. But back in '62 or so, that just wasn't the case. She was the pioneer there. It was a cookbook that had high aspirations, too," he says of Mastering the Art of French Cooking.
Child was also a co-founder of the American Institute of Wine and Food 30 years ago. It now has 22 chapters with 3,000 members.
Clark Wolf, a restaurant consultant and owner of Clark Wolf Consulting, was in on AIWF's ground floor with her in the early '80s.
"She was always in the forefront," Wolf says. "She was a supporter of kids eating good food in school before there were such programs. It was about how to taste an apple, for instance. For Julia, it was all about learn, eat, share."
And enjoy yourself in the process.
The last meal Wolf had with Child was two months before she died. It was at a steakhouse in Santa Barbara, and she was in a wheelchair. "She wanted to go there because the waiters were all good-looking," Wolf says. "And so we went."
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