Producer Todd Schulkin talks about the many roles he has held that led him to becoming Executive Director of the Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts and the very famous screenwriter and director he helped to discover when he was a talent agent.
Producer Todd Schulkin talks about the many roles he has held that led him to becoming Executive Director of the Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts and the very famous screenwriter and director he helped to discover when he was a talent agent. Todd shares the touching memory of first meeting Julia Child and why he believes she continues to make an impact on the culinary world today. He talks about how the foundation selects winners for the annual Julia Child Award and how they seek out recipients that reflect Julia’s values and passion. Todd talks about his role as a consulting producer for the new scripted series, Julia, his responsibility to guide the series in an authentic way, and how the series takes a new perspective on Julia’s life and career. He shares the experience of being executive director on the new Food Network show, The Julia Child Challenge, and how Julia’s energy and presence is woven in throughout the show in order to guide the home cooks who are competing. Todd talks about the many elements of the show and how each contestant shares their own story of how Julia Child impacted their lives.
Start Your Free Trial of discovery+: https://www.discoveryplus.com/foodobsessed
Connect with the podcast: https://www.foodnetwork.com/shows/food-network-obsessed-the-official-podcast-of-food-network
Follow Food Network on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/foodnetwork
Follow Jaymee on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaymeesire
Follow the Julia Child Foundation on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/juliachildfoundation
Learn More About The Julia Child Challenge: https://www.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/shows/the-julia-child-challenge
Find episode transcript here: https://food-network-obsessed.simplecast.com/episodes/todd-schulkin-on-why-we-will-always-love-julia-child
[MUSIC PLAYING] JAYMEE SIRE: Hello, hello, and welcome to Food Network Obsessed. This is the podcast where we dish on all things Food Network with your favorite Food Network stars. I'm your host, Jaymee Sire. And today, we have an executive director and producer on the show to talk about the many layers of his career, and the legacy of the one and only, Julia Child.
He is the executive director of The Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts, and executive producer of Food Network's, The Julia Child Challenge. It's Todd Schulkin.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Todd, welcome to the podcast. I am so excited to have you on the pod today. I have to start with this question because I think it's a really cool fact about you. Is it true you helped discover Christopher Nolan?
TODD SCHULKIN: That is true. Helped I think would be the word. Yes, I was his first agent. One of my first jobs was as a literary agent, and at the time film and television were very segregated in that way. So I was a film agent, and I represented Chris when he did Following. And I sold Memento, which was easy because his best friend, who's now very accomplished producer and writer already had it set up. But they didn't tell me that.
So they auditioned me, I had this whole list. And I did actually shop at thinking no one would understand a movie that goes forward and backwards. But yeah, it was a great experience.
JAYMEE SIRE: Yeah, well, I love Memento. That's definitely one of my favorite movies, but definitely a cool fact. And I think a good introduction into you as a person because I feel like you've worn many hats over the course of your career. One of them involves Food Network lately, we're going to talk about that in a little bit.
But you mentioned you were a literary agent, you were also a marketing executive, and currently, you are the executive director of The Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and Culinary Arts. So before we dive into the details, what would you say is the overarching theme when it comes to your winding career path?
TODD SCHULKIN: That's exactly it. I always say I would not exactly recommend my career path to anyone, I've started over several times. But I think there's a couple of things that are overarching. One is that I love content and I love working with content creators, and I've done that in many different ways.
And even when I worked in marketing, I worked at advertising agencies. And that involved how you sell things through content and communication. So that's the kind of thing that joins everything together, and that's still my passion. But I also really like the kind of combination of business and art, and have always been someone who is good at sitting at that intersection.
JAYMEE SIRE: I mean speaking of which, you have a degree from Brown, you have an MBA from London Business School. What experiences did you have leading up to college that pulled you in that direction initially of becoming a businessman?
TODD SCHULKIN: I don't think I ever intended to become a businessman. I went to Brown because it was the best school. I went into and my dad went there, and he was very encouraging. And I actually I started University in 1989, and was when Japan was the big economic superpower. And so I was taking Japanese, and thought I would do internationals something rather. And that's where I actually discovered architecture.
Well, I'd always been interested in it, but I didn't take it seriously as a career. And then I switched to that, and did a lot of designing the environment kind of things, and majored in urban studies. And then the reason I went to business school, I was very much an atypical business school candidate. I decided I wasn't quite sure I was an architectural prodigy. And architecture is a very difficult profession in reality versus what you see on TV. And I ended up working for a developer. And I realized that developers tend to call most of the shots. And even in terms of design, they hire the architect, they tell the architect what they want.
And the guy who I worked for had gone to business school, and he'd gone to Yale, which has a different program, at the time it wasn't even called an MBA. And that's what I intended to do. I intended to go to business school and work in property development maybe with a social impact component. But the woman I worked for in DC-- I'll give a shout out to Marilyn Melkonian in Telesis Corporation-- she had devoted most of her career to real estate, but she'd worked for Lucasfilms as a lawyer.
And so she had these different Hollywood contacts, and that's how I got this idea of, well, maybe I'm not ready to go to business school, why don't I just go to Hollywood and check things out?
JAYMEE SIRE: So what was your first job then out of school?
TODD SCHULKIN: Well, that was my first job out of school working for her for two years. I worked for this low-income housing property development company, and I did something incredibly specific for them. They helped implement the housing settlements from desegregation lawsuits. And so it was a really specific, it was totally fascinating, and I did that.
But then I just got this idea of wanting to work and be involved with content, and I really had no grand aspiration, but I had some connections. So I moved to Hollywood like the week of the OJ trial and--
JAYMEE SIRE: Oh my gosh.
TODD SCHULKIN: --that was how I got there.
JAYMEE SIRE: How did you actually make that career shift?
TODD SCHULKIN: I just networked. I had actually-- when I graduated from Brown, it was 1993, and it was a pretty bad recession. It was very difficult to get a paying job out of college even with a great degree, and I had networked to get that job in DC. It took me almost-- not a year, it seemed like a year. It was probably the whole summer. And so I did the same thing when I got to Hollywood.
And maybe the dirty secret is, it's not that hard to become an assistant in Hollywood because they churn through them, but at the same time, that's still the main training ground. So I got a job with a limited amount of networking as an assistant at an agency having no intention of being an agent, just being advised that that's a great way to get a broad perspective on the landscape of Hollywood. And then it ended up being a good fit for me.
JAYMEE SIRE: When it comes to navigating all these career choices, do you tend to lead with your head or your heart?
TODD SCHULKIN: I don't actually know the answer to that, but I think I have to say heart because there's no good head logic to it.
JAYMEE SIRE: That's fair. I guess that leads me to my next question. I mean, when this opportunity for the position with the Julia Child Foundation came along, what about this organization compelled you to become part of it?
TODD SCHULKIN: The short answer is it stitched together all these different things I had done. And that was what was attractive about it. And I remember, so Susie Davidson who had actually worked for my mother-in-law years ago and that's how she met Julia. I can visualize still-- I was living in Los Angeles then and she called me up and said, I need some help, things are expanding with the foundation. It's out of my expertise. You know some of this stuff, what do you think?
And I was kind of like, I think it's the perfect job for me in that the needs of the foundation are someone who understands content and intellectual property and intellectual property rights, which I had learned from being an agent and a manager. And then also understands marketing communications, and then the additional prong is having an understanding of the food world.
JAYMEE SIRE: How much was food and cooking or even Julia Child part of your life growing up?
TODD SCHULKIN: Growing up, not very much. I am embarrassed to say that I was not someone who watched Julia all the time on television as a kid. My parents are wonderful people, but they are not food people. It is low on their priority, my mom finds cooking stressful. Although she still does it so, and does it as well as ever. But I basically married into a food family, and my mother-in-law ran a well-known cooking school called La Varenne in Paris that trained a lot of Americans actually.
And that was really my introduction and training. And that was how I met Julia because Julia was my mother-in-law's mentor, as she was to many people but they were actually very close. And when I went to Hollywood and Julia was relocated to Santa Barbara, and my mother-in-law said to us like, can you look after Julia and go see her and visit her. And of course, now I realize how silly that was because Julia knew so many people and was so well looked after, but it was her way of staying connected.
And I can still remember the first time Julia left a message on our answering machine. And I walked into the apartment and played the answering machine and there was Julia Child saying, hello.
JAYMEE SIRE: Wow. Do you still have that? Probably not. But that would be amazing.
TODD SCHULKIN: No, there are many things like that that I wish I kept.
JAYMEE SIRE: What was your first impression of Julia when you met her?
TODD SCHULKIN: It's that characteristic that people talk about that she-- I opened the door and she called me by name, and I was like, oh my god, Julia Child knows my name. And my wife whispered, yeah, because someone just told her five minutes before you walked in. But it was still this genuine ability that she had to immediately connect with people because she was generally interested in people.
JAYMEE SIRE: I mean, and now you have this very important task and honor of really enriching and extending Julia Child's legacy. How can you describe her influence as an icon on the landscape of food media today?
TODD SCHULKIN: Yeah, I feel very honored to be in this position, because I think it's fascinating. And as we'll talk about later with the show, it's amazing how much her legacy has endured. And I think it's kind of got two parts to it. One part of the legacy enduring is that she was one of the first people to sound this clarion call that we really needed to check our values. And that cooking matters, and knowing how to do it. And understanding where food comes from, and questioning how it should be made, and how it's good for you are really important values that were starting to be lost. And I kind of feel like the pandemic just proved Julia right all over again.
And then I think the other part that, again, we'll talk about what the show really explores is how her own story and the unusual path she took is really inspiring, and particularly empowering to people. That she accomplished all these things that if you put it on paper, you wouldn't have expected from her. And people just for very good reasons find that endlessly inspiring, and I do too.
JAYMEE SIRE: Yeah. I mean, why do you think that she has had the staying power like long after she passed? Is it her personality or like you said, some of these things that she was kind of ahead of her time on in terms of cooking and encouraging people to do that at home?
TODD SCHULKIN: Well, I think some of it is her joie de vivre, and that she just had so much joy for what she did. And it was genuine joy and passion. And I think part of it also is her being a teacher that the joy that she put into that, she really wanted people to not just learn things but share her own experiences. So I think that's a big part of it.
Also, she was so authentic, and I think that cuts-- if you go back to my marketing hat. In marketing circles, the big thing you want is for brands to be authentic and to be associated with authentic things. But she was just naturally authentic, and human beings are just naturally drawn to that. And I think that for whatever reason, even that authenticity on camera just is there, and that what makes her endlessly appealing.
JAYMEE SIRE: Yeah. You start to think about watching her, and I just watched the 2021 documentary, and she just seems like a person that you wanted to be around. Did you feel that way in your time knowing her?
TODD SCHULKIN: Oh, absolutely. She was always a joy to be around. And when I knew her, she was quite old. I mean, she was already well into her 80s, and that was the period-- it was her, I guess, mid to late 80s and up until the time she died. But she was still-- she was just a lovely person. And again, it was back to like she was really interested in other people, not just herself. In fact, she really didn't like to talk about herself.
JAYMEE SIRE: Well, each year the foundation awards the Julia Child Award to an individual or team that has really made a profound and significant difference in the way that America cooks, eats, drinks. When you think of past and maybe future recipients of this award, what do you think that they all have in common?
TODD SCHULKIN: Well, the foundation designed the award to really recognize people following in Julia's footsteps. And while that can be in very different ways, because it's not a chef award, it's meant to cover all different facets of the food world. But the common thing is people who have excelled at what they're doing in the food world, but also people who are doing the things that Julia did, mentoring others even without taking public credit for it, and having an impact.
And people who want to take the platform that they've worked hard for, but now have the privilege of having and use it for going above and beyond to make the world a better place through the lens of food. And that's what the award is designed to do, and I think we've just passed seventh or eighth year, all of the recipients share those categories, those characteristics.
And I think, for example, chef Jose Andres was one of the recipients. And obviously what he's done with World Central Kitchen, which at the time was just starting to take off. And then since he received the award, it just really validates he's the kind of person doing-- who's an amazing chef, really appreciates food. Has those same qualities of authenticity and passion that Julia did, and is now really devoting his life to this platform he's established to help other people with food.
JAYMEE SIRE: I know that there's always been this interest in Julia and her story in the entertainment world, I think obviously leading up to her passing but also especially since then in 2004. You had the Julie & Julia book that was turned into a movie with Meryl Streep, the documentary, Julia, which I mentioned that came out last year. And now we have a scripted series on HBO Max by that same name that premieres on March 31.
And speaking of all of your hats, you are also a consulting producer on that project. So what kind of responsibilities does that role entail for you?
TODD SCHULKIN: Well, I think the consulting producer can mean many things. But in my circumstance, I was a bookend producer because I was very involved at the beginning of pitching and conceiving the idea of the show. I worked with actually someone I knew from when-- we were agents together back in the day, and she at the time was a manager at a production and management company called 3 Arts.
And she and I were having lunch, and she was like, I love Julia. What can we do about Julia? And I was like well, and pitched her a couple ideas. And so I was really involved, and we worked together to bring on the writer who ended up being Daniel Goldfarb, and showrunner Chris Keyser. And then it was kind of handed off to them for the writers and showrunners to develop the show.
They did the pilot, the pilot got picked up. And then I kind of supported what they needed in terms of Julia contacts, or-- it's not a right space show, but there's some things that were incorporated. And then again, I put my marketing communications hat back on, so I've worked with HBO Max's marketing team on some of the things they're doing to promote the show, which will include a companion podcast.
JAYMEE SIRE: And it is a scripted show, which I think is super fun and interesting. I mean, what can we expect from watching it?
TODD SCHULKIN: Well, first of all, it's important to say, it is inspired by her life. And it follows the general narrative, but the whole concept behind it was to look at parts of Julia's life that have not been looked at before in detail because her story has so many facets, and people get really fascinated by what was covered in Julie & Julia, her time in France.
But the scripted show looks at this intersection of what was it like for Julia personally to become Julia the TV star? And it happens at a really pivotable time in American history. And that's often overlooked again because people get so fascinated with Julia's story. So the idea was like let's look at when Julia became a TV star, which is the dawn of public television, and not the dawn of television, but really when television was starting to peak and become integral in American life, which also happens to be during the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War.
And that hadn't ever-- usually when you see Julia's story, it kind of it's very Julia-centric and it doesn't talk about that wider picture. On the personal side, it also looks at Julia's relationship with her husband Paul, which was really important to her career. It was a very magical relationship, and it was also this idea of this flip where up until that point, Julia had really supported Paul's career as a diplomat. And he was 10 years older than her. And he really subjugated himself to make things happen for her.
And so that's what the series looks at. But some of it is invented and imagined because there isn't documentation of what she and Paul were discussing in their bedroom late at night.
JAYMEE SIRE: Right. I mean, how well documented is Julia's life before her show, The French Chef?
TODD SCHULKIN: I mean, it's pretty well documented. There's at least three biographies about Julia, and then there's her own memoir. But I think what is less well documented-- I mean, the biography is cover comprehensively. Her story from start to finish, and particularly, you want to read all three of the major ones, you'll get a pretty complete picture.
So the series is really looking at filling in gaps of if you were a fly on the wall, what would you have experienced? And particularly more from an emotional point of view, what was it like for Julia to try to become Julia? Which isn't, I think, in any existing materials.
JAYMEE SIRE: What ignited her interest in French cuisine?
TODD SCHULKIN: Well, I mean that's covered in part because it really was through Paul Child who took her to France, and was much more knowledgeable already about French culture and French food and wine. And she just fell in love with it. And once she had that famous meal in Rouen at Le Couronne of sole meuniere, she was smitten. And just, I mean, anyone who's had the privilege of going to France and eating in France, the food just tastes better there.
JAYMEE SIRE: It does. It does, it's magical. Are there other aspects of her life and perspective that you think should be recognized alongside of this career that we all know and love?
TODD SCHULKIN: As much as she's a beloved figure, she had her own ups and downs. I mean to begin with, it took her 10 years to get Mastering The Art published. It almost didn't happen. She had personal disappointments that most people believe that she did want to have children but wasn't able to. There's not really anyone who knows the ins and outs, but she made enough comments to show that it was not a personal choice to not have children.
And she and Paul both had a series of health problems. Julia had breast cancer early on, relatively early in her life, and Paul had a heart problem that then it didn't end his life prematurely, but it took him away from Julia's side. And she had to go it alone after he'd been such a rock to her.
So I think it's also helpful to understand she was a human being with struggles like anyone else, but I think one of the things that also makes her a role model is that she dealt with them, she dealt with them privately, and she didn't let them consume her. And she still achieved things in her own way, and didn't lose hope.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
JAYMEE SIRE: Todd is also an executive producer on Food Network's newest show, The Julia Child Challenge, and he's going to give us the scoop on it when we come back.
As we've been teasing, you are also an executive producer on the new Food Network show, The Julia Child Challenge. So this is where eight home cooks, all Julia Child superfans cook in a kitchen that has been recreated in the likeness of where Julia herself cooked. They're using the same ingredients she used, plus the grand prize, the contestant who wins this competition gets a life changing experience to literally follow in her footsteps, an all-expense-paid three month cooking class at Le Cordon Bleu. Does this project feel like a natural progression of Julia's influence on the modern day food competition shows?
TODD SCHULKIN: Yes and no. I would say yes because Julia sort of led the way for what became the modern food show and the ideas behind Food Network. I would say no in that it's kind of back to basics. So it's not full of whiz bang stuff, it's more about how-- well first of all, it's home cook focus, so the contestants are not chefs. They're not trained at all. They're all just people who are really into cooking, who've taught themselves.
Then they're also being challenged to follow in Julia's footsteps, learn about her life, and the dishes that tell her story. But by then also putting themselves into those dishes and showing themselves and their experience through recreating them.
JAYMEE SIRE: And they're kind of guided by Julia herself in this like larger than life television screen right in the middle of all the action. How important was it to ensure that her presence, her energy was an equal and integral part of the show?
TODD SCHULKIN: Well, luckily for us on the foundation side, that was always part of the vision of the show runners and producers, Blake Davis and Kimberly Carver. So the idea was that always Julia would be front and center. And I think we'd learned from some other things we tried out before that Julia is still an amazing teacher on television, and her presence just leaps off. And so I like to think of it as she almost plays this like fairy godmother role which--
JAYMEE SIRE: I love that.
TODD SCHULKIN: --sounds a little cheesy. But I think it really works and they've leaned into, and I think it just-- at the foundation we talk a lot about the magic of Julia. Whenever we do things even when their possibility of it going off the rail or we're not too sure, there's this magic Julie brings that just makes everything better.
JAYMEE SIRE: Yeah, I think fairy godmother is a great description of what she can bring to this challenge, and just to everybody who watches her. What kind of challenges on the show can we expect?
TODD SCHULKIN: Well, like I said, the way the challenges are structured, they really walk you through key elements of Julia's story, a lot of the things we've been talking about. So each episode is structured on different moments in her life in her story, whether it's the relationship with her husband Paul, or when she was in the Office of Strategic Services, or when she discovered France.
And so the challenges are to make dishes from Julia's life that were important to her, but also with some technical skills. There's filleting fish and Julia giving a demo on that, and then the home cook contestants having to replicate that. There's making souffles and certain structures. So it's a little bit of everything. It's a little bit of Julia's story, it's a little bit of show your classical French techniques and trainings, and these things that all cooks should know.
JAYMEE SIRE: And like you said, they are all home cooks, but they also have their own personal connection to Julia. How much did their stories of her impact on their lives resonate with you?
TODD SCHULKIN: Oh amazingly. It was incredibly moving. It's very well cast. So all of the people have interesting backgrounds and have had their own trials and tribulations, and I think demonstrated how food was transformative in their lives. And that comes through in the show, partly, because the challenges are set up to be very personal, and that they have to reveal certain things of themselves through their food. And then get judged based on how well they do that. But yeah, there's some really moving stories, and it was a joy to be there to see it unfold.
JAYMEE SIRE: What do you think Julia's advice to those contestants would be?
TODD SCHULKIN: Well, you'll see she gives the advice in the show, but it's very much be true to yourself, try. You might make mistakes, but it's all in how you handle them. So I also like to think of it-- so there's Julia's fairy godmother, but there's also this element of Julia as a life coach. And that really comes through. And she really is. She's like-- people's interest in Julia's quotes and things like that, she really had all this wisdom that she was being a life coach before it was a thing.
JAYMEE SIRE: Yeah, I love that you brought up, you might make mistakes, because I think that was definitely a through line with her is that you're not going to get it right every single time, and I'm going to show you how to fix that if that happens. How important is that aspect of her personality in terms of allowing this legacy to live on?
TODD SCHULKIN: Well, I think it's huge because I think that's part of the empowering thing that Julia says. She gives people not just-- I think everyone knows you need to make mistakes, but I think she reminds you that it's an important part of learning. And that by making them, you learn and you get better. And that there's no chef who got to be great by making everything perfectly every time.
And I think actually I should give a shout out to Antonia Lofaso, who is fantastic as the-- she's the head judge, but she's also the host. She's certainly Julia's co-host, and she was a great sort of mother hen to all the home cooks. And I think she and some of the other guest judges talk about the fact that you'll always make mistakes. And a lot of I think what I learned too about cooking and from cooking teachers and chefs is, it's not so much about making a mistake, the best chefs, they know how to fix their mistakes, or make it look like they fixed it. And that's--
And again, Julia said never apologize, and of course, Julia didn't mean if you did something wrong you shouldn't apologize. What she meant, don't reveal your mistakes. Actually that happens quite a bit in the show where the judges admonish the contestants for right away admitting what they did wrong. And multiple times the judges are like, why did you say that? This taste perfectly good. If you hadn't told us you intended something else, we wouldn't have known. Don't do that. And that's Julia said, if you fix it, don't let on.
JAYMEE SIRE: Yeah, I just love how transparent she was always about that. And you mentioned head judge Antonia Lofaso, you had the rotating panel of guest judges, including Molly Baz, Cliff Crooks, Brooke Williamson. Do you have a chance to meet and hang out with them on set, and if so like what was their excitement level of being part of this project?
TODD SCHULKIN: Well, I was really lucky because we were able to be on set, and I was there for the whole filming. It was still during pretty strict COVID protocols. So it was wearing an N95 mask, and the judges were all face-shielded except when they were on camera. But yeah, no, I mean, I got to meet-- I did not try literally. I certainly met in sort of a group setting everybody and had some time.
And then the other facet of guest judges were people pulled from Julia's life, Julia Child award recipient, Susan Feniger was one of them. Dorie Greenspan, who did Baking With Julia, who rarely does TV appearances, is in the finale. So there was this great meeting between the current and new generation, and the generation that came before them. And I think it just pops on camera.
JAYMEE SIRE: Well, we are certainly looking forward to seeing it all unfurl, and see who is the winner in this very unique challenge. And we appreciate you taking the time to chat with us, and tease what we can expect. We're going to finish things off with a little rapid fire with you, and then we have one final question that we ask everybody here at the end of Food Network obsessed. All right, so rapid fire round. Favorite Julia Child recipe.
TODD SCHULKIN: I would say coq au vin.
JAYMEE SIRE: OK. Favorite Julia quote.
TODD SCHULKIN: People who love to eat are always the best people.
JAYMEE SIRE: Absolutely. Fact about Julia we may not know.
TODD SCHULKIN: Well, this ties in to your first question, she loved the movies. And actually, particularly when I knew her was before I was really involved in the food world and just worked in Hollywood. And so when I would see her in Santa Barbara, we would chat about what movies she'd seen, and she was going to the movies well into her 90s.
JAYMEE SIRE: I love that. How do you take your coffee or tea?
TODD SCHULKIN: Well, I drink both. So I take my coffee black with a little bit of milk, and I drink tea with just plain.
JAYMEE SIRE: How would you rate your own cooking skills on a scale of 1 to 10?
TODD SCHULKIN: I'd like to say 7.
JAYMEE SIRE: OK. All right, that's good. That's respectable. Your go-to takeout order.
TODD SCHULKIN: I love aromatic duck pancakes like Chinese food, which is not something--
JAYMEE SIRE: Oh yes.
TODD SCHULKIN: Yeah, I love the taste, but also the construction project of you put the plum sauce, and the carrot, cucumber and the scallion. And then they roll it up. I love that.
JAYMEE SIRE: The little buffet. Personal life motto.
TODD SCHULKIN: Well, this comes from maybe having started as an agent, but I would say, if you don't ask, you don't get.
JAYMEE SIRE: Answer's always no unless you ask, right? Favorite Food Network show.
TODD SCHULKIN: 100% Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. I love everything about it, and admire Guy Fieri.
JAYMEE SIRE: Yeah, I think you're not alone in that answer. All right, so our final question, this is the one we ask everybody on the show. And that is, what would be on the menu for your perfect food day. So we want to hear your breakfast, your lunch, your dinner, dessert. And there are no rules in this question, so obviously, calories don't count, you can travel, time travel, spend absurd amounts of money, it can be served by any chef alive or dead. The floor is yours, what is your perfect food day?
TODD SCHULKIN: Well, it's funny because I think I've gone with what came into my mind first, which was actually quite sort of maybe do it yourself rather than even though you've given the opportunity to travel the globe, and I've been fortunate to eat around the world, but I pick things that I think I would make myself. So a bagel and lox, absolutely for breakfast. Always love it.
I love quesadillas, so that would be my lunch. I can do them vegetarian, authentic, any which way. Love them. I think you can't beat roast chicken for dinner, and I would probably do that very traditionally French style. And then for dessert also very French chocolate mousse. I love chocolate, and I actually like my desserts quite simple.
JAYMEE SIRE: All right. Would Julia approve?
TODD SCHULKIN: I don't know if she would eat a quesadilla, and I don't know if she ate bagels, but I think she'd be good with a roast chicken and chocolate mousse. I think those were staples to her.
JAYMEE SIRE: Absolutely. Well, it's been such a delight speaking with you. I, like so many other people out there just infatuated with Julia and her story, and just the light that she brings whenever she's on screen. So we are looking forward to seeing her on this new Food Network show, and best of luck with all of your different projects you have going on.
TODD SCHULKIN: Thank you.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
JAYMEE SIRE: Such an interesting conversation with Todd honoring the life and legacy of a food icon. Be sure to catch The Julia Child Challenge premiering Monday, March 14 at 9:00/8:00 central on Food Network and streaming on Discovery Plus.
Thanks so much for listening, and make sure to follow us wherever you listen to podcasts so you don't miss a thing. And if you enjoyed today's episode, please rate and review. We love it when you do that. That's all for now, we'll catch you foodies next Friday.
[MUSIC PLAYING]