No beef with Julia’s kitchen: Her home’s new owner lacks the bone appetite

No beef with Julia’s kitchen

Her home’s new owner lacks the bone appetite

Lisa Landsverk and her daughters Rachael (left) and Teymura are among the new inhabitants of Julia Child's former house.(Essdras M Suarez/ Globe Staff)

By Billy Baker Globe Correspondent / August 31, 2009

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, USA -

They are known for their love of cats.  At least they had that much in common.

But Lisa Landsverk, the new owner of the grand Victorian home on Irving Street in Cambridge where Julia Child, the doyenne of la cuisine bourgeoise, lived, cooked, and warbled for 43 years, has brought a bit of her own personality to the place.

Take the painting of the cow.

“Nobody says when I grow up I want to be a hamburger,’’ the painting’s caption reads.

Yes, the matriarch of Child’s former kitchen is an animal-rights activist and a vegetarian. “It’s a bit ironic,’’ Landsverk said, in an understatement.

What’s more, Landsverk is not what you would call a foodie. She likes to make simple things for dinner: pasta, burritos, reservations. But in the month since Landsverk and her husband, Harvard Law School professor Michael Klarman, moved into Child’s former home near the Harvard campus, they have found themselves the accidental caretakers of what has become a bit of a destination for food tourists.

Due to a recent movie about her life, “Julie & Julia,’’ everything Julia Child is hot. The film, based on a 2005 book by blogger Julie Powell about her attempt to cook all 524 recipes in Child’s landmark “Mastering the Art of French Cooking’’ in a single year, has catapulted Child, who died in 2004, back into the spotlight.

Child’s 48-year-old book has shot to the top of the bestseller list.

With the Julia mania has come an odd sort of attention for Landsverk, a former lawyer, and her family.

There are the lurkers outside their windows, snapping pictures of the house; the person who left a stick of butter (Child’s favorite ingredient) on their fence post; and the reporter who knocked on their door to ask what it’s like to cook on the site of hallowed culinary ground.

“The truth is that we haven’t done much cooking since we moved into the place,’’ Landsverk said.

After a bit of hesitation, she agreed to allow the reporter in to change that.

The plan was simple: Make a couple of Child’s recipes and see how it feels. Landsverk added one caveat: Everything had to be vegan because she did not want to offend her animal-rights friends. So, no butter.

Landsverk chose ratatouille for an entrée - she liked Child’s assertion that the eggplant casserole “perfumes the kitchen with the essence of Provence’’ - and, for dessert, pêches cardinal, a compote of fresh peaches with raspberry purée.

Helping her were daughters Rachael Klarman, 20, a junior at the University of Virginia, and 8-year-old Teymura.

A son, 17, was off at Japanese camp, and her oldest daughter, 22, was still in Charlottesville, Virginia, where the family lived before the move.

Rachael Klarman admits she had never heard of the famous chef before the realtor touted the Child connection to the family.

But she has become quite enthusiastic about the former occupant, recently reading “Julie & Julia’’ and Child’s memoir, “My Life in France.’’

As she walked back from a supply run to Savenor’s Market on a sweltering afternoon last week - Savenor’s was a favorite of Child’s, and she carved her signature signoff, “Bon Appétit,’’ into the sidewalk outside - Rachael Klarman said she’s been inspired to do more cooking in the kitchen, so that Child “is not rolling over in her grave.’’

Child and her husband, Paul, bought the house in 1956 for $35,000 and moved in two years later.

Paul, an artist and foreign service officer, designed the kitchen to Julia’s strict specifications, including countertops that were 2 inches higher than normal to accommodate her 6-foot-2-inch frame.

The kitchen was styled along the lines of a workshop, with the pots and pans hung from pegboards around the room, favorite knives - she had 800 - on magnetic strips between the windows, and everyday utensils in jars above the Garland range.

The pale green space changed little in Child’s time, and was familiar to many from the three cooking shows she filmed there during the 1990s.

When Child moved out in 2001, her kitchen and its contents were donated to the Smithsonian, where they are now an exhibit.

The house went through down-to-the-studs renovation, and when Lisa Landsverk and her family bought the 6,000-square-foot home in February for a reported $3.7 million, the only sign of Child’s tenure was her wine cellar, with its simple pine racks and handwritten vintage labels written by her husband.

The current kitchen is modern and white with a few stainless-steel accents. The windows and doorways are in the same place as when Child lived there, but the room has been expanded; an elevator has been removed to create a sunroom with a small dining area.

Stylewise, about the only thing the kitchen shares with Child’s is that everything has a place; in the new kitchen, that place is out of sight. Everything is so neatly concealed that Rachael said it took them a while to find the silverware drawer (it was hidden inside a larger drawer on the kitchen island).

With the ingredients ready and the cookbook open, Lisa and Rachael began making their way through the ratatouille recipe. Immediately, they realized that this was not going to be a quick meal.

“That’s very specific,’’ Lisa Landsverk said as she read Child’s directions to cut the eggplant into 3/8-inch-thick slices.

“No, there’s more,’’ Rachael Klarman said as she kept reading. “She calls for chunks with three specific dimensions. That’s impressive.’’

“And she wants us to dry each slice with a towel!’’ her mother gasped with a smile on her face. “We’re going to be here all day.’’

As they made their way through the recipes, mother and daughter began to notice a curious aspect to their conversation. They never said “the recipe wants’’ or “the book says;’’ they said “she says mind the heat’’ and “she wants us to chill the purée.’’ In “Julie & Julia,’’ Powell describes feeling that Julia was by her side like “some great big good fairy.’’

Lisa Landsverk and her daughter weren’t quite as grandiose, but agreed on one thing: Julia Child had them engaged with their dinner.

More than two hours after the cooking began, the kitchen was a mess but the food was ready. Teymura, who is chatty and a bit sassy, tried to get out of eating the ratatouille (she’d been pining for pasta), but relented when she was allowed to use chopsticks. She took one bite and announced “It’s kind of good, but not that good.’’

Rachael Klarman and her mother were more hesitant in their assessment.

After a few bites, Rachael said, almost relieved, “It tastes fine.’’ Her mother was impressed by the medley of flavors, but criticized her own technique.

“I think I overcooked the eggplant,’’ she said. “I wasn’t minding my heat like she said.’’

Correction: Because of an editing error, a Page One story yesterday about the owner of Julia Child's house gave the incorrect last name for the owner's daughter. Her name is Rachael Klarman.

http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/food/articles/2009/08/31/new_occupants_get_cooking_in_julia_childs_former_house?mode=PF

HIGH Executive Committee

HIGH Executive Committee Members

Steve E. Hyman, Chair
Provost; Professor of Neurobiology
Office of the President and Provost; Harvard Medical School

Steven E. Hyman is Provost of Harvard University and Professor of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School. From 1996 to 2001, he served as Director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). Before serving as Director of NIMH, Dr. Hyman was Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, Director of Psychiatry Research at Massachusetts General Hospital, and the first faculty Director of Harvard University's Mind, Brain, and Behavior Initiative. In the laboratory he studied the molecular biology of neurotransmitter action. Dr. Hyman is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He currently serves as Editor of the Annual Review of Neuroscience.

Sue Goldie, Faculty Co-Chair
Roger Irving Lee Professor of Public Health
Harvard School of Public Health

Sue J. Goldie is a Professor of Health Decision Science in the Department of Health Policy and Management. Dr. Goldie’s research focuses on developing and validating computer-based models linking the basic biology of disease and its epidemiology to population-based outcomes. Dr. Goldie is a committee member of several organizations that focus on global health, including the Board on Global Health of the Institute of Medicine. She has received numerous teaching awards for her courses and mentorship in decision science methods as applied to public health. She was recently awarded a MacArthur grant “for genius and creativity” in applying the tools of decision science to combat major public health problems.

Allan M. Brandt
Amalie Moses Kass Professor of the History of Medicine; Professor of the History of Science
Harvard Medical School; Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Allan M. Brandt is the Amalie Moses Kass Professor of the History of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He holds a joint appointment in the Department of the History of Science at Harvard University. His work focuses on social and ethical aspects of health, disease, and medical practices in the twentieth-century United States. Brandt is the author of The Cigarette Century: The Rise, Fall, and Deadly Persistence of the Product That Defined America and No Magic Bullet: A Social History of Venereal Disease in the United States Since 1880. He has written on the social history of epidemic disease; the history of public health; and the history of human subject research among other topics.

David Cutler
Otto Eckstein Professor of Applied Economics
Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences

David Cutler is Professor of Economics in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Cutler has developed an impressive record of achievement in both academia and the public sector. He served as Assistant Professor of Economics from 1991 to 1995, was named John L. Loeb Associate Professor of Social Sciences in 1995, and received tenure in 1997. He is currently Professor of Economics in the department of economics and Kennedy School of Government.

David Edwards
Gordon McKay Professor of the Practice of Biomedical Engineering
Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences

David Edwards is a biomedical engineer and writer actively involved in the translation of ideas from the university through novel medical technology, and the writing, performing and visual arts. His scientific research concerns the mathematical design of novel physical parameters that allow nanostructured materials to efficiently deliver drugs and vaccines to the lungs and other human organs, with a special focus on infectious diseases in developing world nations. Current work in his laboratory includes the development of novel antibiotic therapies for tuberculosis and a new delivery platform for needle-free childhood vaccines. Medicine in Need, or MEND, is an international not-for-profit organization that translates research from Dr. Edwards' lab to clinical practice in South Africa and other developing world environments. Dr. Edwards is the co-author of numerous scientific publications in the fields of fluid mechanics, interfacial transport phenomena, drug delivery, and aerosol science. A member of the National Academy of Engineering since 2001, David has won many national and international awards. Dr. Edwards' artistic work includes his founding and direction of Le Laboratoire, a new innovation space in downtown Paris, where artists and scientists perform collaborative experiments.

Jim Yong Kim
Director, François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights, Harvard School of Public Health
Chair, Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Chief, Division of Global Health Equity, Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Jim Yong Kim holds appointments as François Xavier Bagnoud Professor of Health and Human Rights at the Harvard School of Public Health and Professor of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He is Chief of the Division of Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a major Harvard teaching hospital; Director of the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights; and Chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Kim returned to Harvard in December 2005 after a three-year leave of absence at the World Health Organization (WHO). Dr. Kim has more than 20 years of experience in improving health in developing countries. He is a founding trustee and the former Executive Director of Partners In Health, a not-for-profit organization that supports a range of health programs in poor communities in Haiti, Peru, Russia, Lesotho, Rwanda, Chiapas, Malawi, and the United States.

Paul Ridker
Eugene Braunwald Professor of Medicine
Harvard Medical School

Dr. Ridker is the Eugene Braunwald Professor of Medicine at the Harvard Medical School and directs the Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention, a translational research unit at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston which focuses on the molecular and genetic epidemiology of cardiovascular diseases with particular focus on inflammation. As a graduate of Brown University, the Harvard Medical School, and the Harvard School of Public Health, Dr. Ridker's primary research brings together classical tools of large-scale, population based epidemiology with emerging genetic and molecular techniques designed to improve our ability to predict and prevent thrombotic occlusion. Dr Ridker is also the Principle Investigator or Trial Chairman of several multi-national clinical trials including the ongoing JUPITER trial investigating interventions for CRP.

Bruce Walker
Professor of Medicine
Harvard Medical School

Bruce Walker is Professor of Medicine and Director of the Partners AIDS Research Center at the Massachusetts General Hospital and the Harvard University Center for AIDS Research (HU CFAR). In addition, Dr. Walker is adjunct Professor at the Nelson Mandela School of Medicine in Durban, South Africa. He obtained his undergraduate training at the University of Colorado and the Swiss Federal Technical Institute, and graduated from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Dr. Walker’s research centers on the cellular immune response to chronic viral infections, including HIV and hepatitis C virus. In 1987 his group discovered that HIV infection induces a strong virus specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) response in infected individuals, and have subsequently shown that these cells are extremely efficient at controlling virus replication in vitro. In addition to these efforts in Boston, Walker and colleagues have collaborated with the Nelson Mandela School of Medicine in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa to build a fully functional biomedical research facility to study the viruses fueling the extensive epidemic there, and to capacitate African researchers and clinicians to become involved in the global fight against HIV.

Dyann F. Wirth
Richard Pearson Strong Professor and Chair, Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases
Harvard School of Public Health

Dr. Wirth graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Wisconsin, spent one year as a Fulbright Fellow, and then completed her Ph.D. in cell biology and virology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She was awarded a Helen Hay Whitney Fellowship for her postdoctoral work in molecular biology at Harvard. She joined the faculty of Harvard School of Public Health in 1982 and was promoted to full professor in 1990. She is the recipient of the Burroughs Wellcome Award in Molecular Parasitology, the Bailey K. Ashford Award from the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. She was elected President of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (1998-1999). She is Senior Associate Member at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT and co-director of the Broad’s Infectious Disease Initiative. At the Harvard School of Public Health, Dr. Wirth is the Richard Pearson Strong Professor and Chair of the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases. Professor Wirth’s research is focused on tropical disease, primarily malaria (which affects 200-300 million people, mostly children, worldwide). Dr. Wirth is an expert in molecular microbiology and has developed many of the molecular genetic tools used in the investigation of malaria and leishmania. Her work has focused on the mechanisms of drug resistance and her group was the first to discover multidrug resistance mechanisms in these organisms.