I'm going to get something off my chest right now. I love Julia Child. I can't think of a better woman to admire and (well quite literally) look up to. I know, I know. I sound like every hip cook in my generation. But really, she's the Christ of cuisine. I can give you five holy reasons why she exemplifies a foodie and should be idolized.

“1. The secret of a happy marriage is finding the right person. You know they’re right if you love being with them all of the time.
2. You learn to cook so that you don’t have to be a slave to recipes. You get what’s in season and you know what to do with it.
3. Animals that we eat are raised for food in the most economical way possible, and the serious food producers do it in the most humane way possible. I think anyone who is a carnivore needs to understand that meat does not originally come in these neat little packages.
4. I was 32 when I started cooking; up until then, I just ate.
5. Everything in moderation, even moderation.”

We can learn a few things from Julia. You're never too late for anything in life. Cooking should be therapy. Love makes life better. Be humane, more importantly, be human.

She's the epitome of what cooking is all about. It's sometimes tickets, yelling, scurrying, burning, haute cuisine and stress. Admittedly, those that choose to love food this way enjoy the slightly BDSM factors and have probably had enough of the missionary position of cooking. But for most, it's more like a fresh, young love filled with innocence. The slightly uncomfortable effort of de-boning a chicken. The unsureness of making gnocchi for the first time. The eventual slow up sweep of getting to know and understand your relationship. Just like a new partner, you start to feel at ease making decisions to make the relationship stronger. You start remembering the seasons of different vegetables. You can name more than three mushrooms. You can even start to figure out and decode the meat department with complex understanding. You even season appropriately with heavy hands of salt and spice.

Taking a leap into a romance with food is almost identical to a human relationship. It can be scary and overwhelming. It can seem easy to avoid. But it's gratuitous and forgiving and somehow you keep trying and learning. You fall every once in a while, but for the most part you educate yourself from mistakes and take another step further into the darkness.

Take a lesson from Julia Child, try everything. Don't ever be nervous. And for goodness sake, don't ever be afraid to be a ginormous woman who loves butter and cream and all things classic. Even if it's just inwardly.