How would you like those preservatives served?

I was thinking of the blessed Julia Child the other day after watching 14 Children and Pregnant Again on the Learning Channel. (Watch for it to re-air Dec. 25, at 4:00 pm est.) It was about the Duggar Family of Arkansas who have had 15 children in 16 years and plan on continuing to welcome as many children as the good Lord will bless them with because they belong to the Full Quiver movement. How do they cope? With lots of cooperation from the kids and a great deal of streamlining. For example: dinner usually comes out of a can.

It was an eye-opener to watch the Duggars return home from grocery shopping and see them store their choices in the pantry, an Aladdin's cave of canned, bottled and packaged processed foods, enough to make a quickie-mart owner envious. Then the daughter in charge of cooking began preparing for a picnic.

When I think "picnic" I think of fried chicken, hero sandwiches, deviled eggs, stuffed celery, cheese and crackers, fruit tarts, and homemade cookies. When the Duggars think "picnic" they think of canned corn. Yes, gallons of canned corn. Also their famous "Tater Tot Casserole" made with ground turkey, cream of mushroom soup and...you guessed it-- tater tots.

We might all be eating like this if Julia Child hadn't introduced Americans to The Joy of Cooking. Back in the sixties, my mother cooked like this but not because she was lazy or pressed for time. It was just The Modern Way, a part of the "better living through chemicals" mindset. Also the grocery stores were not as well stocked and the produce departments were pitiful compared to today. Not just corn, but nearly every other vegetable we ate came in cans: green beans, beets, peas, carrots, tomatoes, and asparagus. If they could have figured out how to can iceberg lettuce, that would have been popular, too. As for any sort of ethnic food, Mexican was considered exotic and if you wanted Chinese food, you had to go out. Middle Eastern cooking was undreamt of.

So as a child I ate my share of tater tots, Hamburger Helper, and Shake 'N Bake. Our dinners usually included some form of canned Spam, canned tuna, hot dogs or ground beef. Along the way I drank a river of cream of mushroom soup.

My day started with Tang, the breakfast of astronauts, which I preferred mixed to industrial strength. It had to be strong enough to hold up to the grey sludge at the bottom of my bowl of cereal, sludge obtained by dumping 14 tablespoons of sugar over my Cheerios (mom only allowed us "sugarless" cereal.) For lunch when we weren't having peanut butter and jelly (on Wonderbread, naturally) we were eating jelly and peanut butter. Always grape jelly-- not my favorite but the only flavor my brother would eat. If we were lucky, there was a Ho Ho for dessert. And if I was asked what I wanted for dinner, it would be a struggle to choose between Spaghetti-Os and Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.

Then fresh fruits and vegetables became more readily available. Grocery stores added ethnic food sections. And I picked up my first cookbook by Julia Child. I learned how to debone a turkey, whip up Bechemel sauce, and make my own pastry. Gourmet cooking was easy and the results were impressive. I never looked back.

I am thankful that Julia Child came along. I am thankful that I will never have to eat another bite of Tuna Noodle casserole or Jello surprise. Above all, I am thankful that I don't have 15 kids.