Julia Child Had A Cheeky Way To Avoid Tossing Out Failed Dishes

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Many famous chefs have partners who are their biggest cheerleaders, but few achieved the level of adoration and career-changing daily moral support that Paul Child lavished on his wife Julia. This support became foundational to Julia Child's success, urging her along her path in ways big and small, from supporting decisions like pursuing her cooking show "The French Chef" to sitting on the floor and holding up cue cards during filming.

Julia Child was known for her love and mastery of French food, which she developed during several honeymoon phase years of living with Paul in France; but she was perhaps equally famous for her humble nature and ability not to take herself too seriously. In that vein, when asked by David Letterman during a 1987 TV segment what she did with dishes that did not exactly turn out as she hoped, she laughed it off and indicated that she served them to her husband Paul. Though there are many culprits for dishes that aren't winners, from measuring incorrectly to not preheating the oven to one of the many "overs" (such as overworking or overcrowding the food), there is truth to the adage that sometimes it is practice that makes perfect.

The success of a less-than-TV- or cookbook-worthy recipe iteration may in fact come down to a willing spouse. It's like the iconic Life cereal commercial, where slightly mischievous brothers try to pawn off a "healthy" cereal on their little brother, and to their amazement, he likes it. Paul may not have been a little brother, but he was happy to eat Julia Child's "rejects" all the same.

The clear as day life-long bond between Julia and her husband Paul calls to mind another famous chef and her adoring husband in the form of Ina and Jeffrey Garten. It is evident that Garten chooses food as her medium of conveying love, and her most frequent attention is directed towards Jeffrey, right down to her popular cookbook "Cooking for Jeffrey." It appears that Jeffrey is more than pleased to be her number one food taster, even if there were a few dishes over the years that didn't pass muster like an errant fish stew or a dish of ground beef and corn. The bottom line is, it sounds like being the partner of a larger-than-life celebrity chef has its (overwhelming food) privileges, despite a few dishes that may occasionally miss the mark.