When French Food Is Child’s Play

The Scene: Many were calling Sunday night’s gathering at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Marina del Rey the largest assemblage of noteworthy French chefs ever, with 60-plus cooking stars either dining or working in the kitchen. “Even in France if we wanted to gather so many chefs, you couldn’t,” said Moet & Chandon’s Jean Berchon. They were there to honor Julia Child, the 80-year-old American chef, cookbook author and TV personality, for demystifying and popularizing French cuisine.

The Cause: The first function of the Merci Foundation, founded by L. A. chef Michel Richard of Citrus, was organized “to thank all the best ambassadors of French cuisine from this century.” Money raised went to the American Institute of Wine & Food.

Who Was There: Roger Verge and Paul Bocuse--considered by this crowd to be veritable French cooking gods--and other eminent food figures from France and the United States, including Marc Meneau, Michel Rostang, Jacques Pepin, Sirio Maccioni, Drew Nieporent, David Bouley, Jeremiah Tower, Robert Mondavi, Alain Ducasse, Gilbert Le Coze, Jean-Louis Palladin plus L. A.’s Patrick Healy, Ken Frank and Claude Alrivy. Also, restaurateurs Bernard Jacoupy, Patrick Terrail, Jimmy Murphy, Bruce Marder, Wolfgang Puck and Barbara Lazaroff, Gerard Ferry, Xiomara Ardolina and Anne Willan of Paris’ La Varenne cooking school. “This is the Academy Awards of eating,” said one of the event underwriters.

Quoted: “If you consume a 2,000-calorie (a day) diet, you’re supposed to have 30% fat. If you eliminate whole categories of food, it can be dangerous. You’ll find within a few years, all your teeth will fall out and your hair, too,” Child said, bemoaning the aversion to dietary fat.

The Chow: Soupe de fenouil et d’artichauts, petites mousselines d’olives noires et anguille fumee. And that was just the first course. (Five others followed.)

Culinary Detail We Didn’t Need to Hear: The floor-to-ceiling chocolate cake was three months in the making.

Foodie Pastime: Counting the number of stars in the room--that is, the number of chefs representing restaurants that have earned stars in France’s lofty Michelin Guide.

Sound Bite: Attempting a bilingual moment, emcee Rupert Hitzig called the honoree “Julia Enfant. “

Gift Bag: Beside going home with their actual (washed) dinner plate reading “Merci Julia” and champagne glass (ditto), each guest limped out the door carrying hefty totes containing a baguette (from Il Fornaio), 12 ounces of Swiss-water-decaffeinated Yemin Mocha coffee beans (Prebica), a box of chocolates (Valrhona), plus two pounds of French white sugar cubes, candied lemon peels, one dry cured duck sausage, one lemon zester, mulling spices, one napkin (Frette), and a booklet containing recipes for the evening’s chow.