Christine Tobin transcript
Kerry Diamond:
Hi, everyone. You are listening to Radio Cherry Bombe, and I'm your host Kerry Diamond coming to you from Rockefeller Center in the heart of New York City. Each week, we talk to the coolest culinary personalities around, the folks shaping and shaking up the food scene. Today's guest is Christine Tobin, the food stylist behind the new HBO Max original series, Julia, which premieres this Thursday, March 31st, and is based on the life of Julia Child. Christine joins us to share what it was like behind the scenes, how she did her research, and what Julia Child means to her. Stay tuned for our chat.
Speaking of Julia, I'm very excited to share the news that I'll be hosting the official HBO Max companion podcast for Julia. It's called Dishing on Julia, and it debuts right after the premier on Thursday night. We'll have great guests, including the cast and creatives from the show. They're a lovely group of people, and I've really enjoyed getting to know them.
We'll also have special guests like Ina Garten and Dorie Greenspan, and you know how much we love them here at Cherry Bombe. So give a listen to the trailer, and I would love for you to subscribe to Dishing on Julia. You can find the show on all podcast platforms.
Today's show is sponsored by Foxtrot. Foxtrot is the modern corner store that's redefining convenience. Foxtrot has markets in Chicago, Dallas, D.C., and Virginia. Foxtrot also has a curated online shop from Cherry Bombe featuring our favorite women-owned brands. And you can find it at foxtrotco.com. You can check it out right now and pick up some yummy stuff from brands we love, including Brightland, Fly by Jing, Pineapple Collaborative, and Diaspora Co.
I also want to tell you about Foxtrot's second annual Up & Comers Awards. Foxtrot is looking for the next big thing in food. Is that your brand? If so, grab a pen. You can apply now through April 4th at Foxtrotco.com/upandcomers. Don't delay. That deadline is coming up fast and that link is in our show notes, by the way. Winners will receive a spot on Foxtrot shelves, plus funding, marketing support, and mentorship from some of the biggest names in food.
And now for some housekeeping. It is Jubilee Week. Jubilee is our annual conference, and it's also the biggest gathering of women in food and drink in the US. I'd like to thank our lead sponsors for helping make this year's Jubilee possible: HBO Max, Kerrygold, Whole Foods Market, San Pellegrino, and Mommenpop. Also supporting Jubilee are the awesome folks at Honey Mama's, Pomp & Whimsy, Resy, Bouvet Ladubay, and Cakebread Cellars, Stumptown Coffee Roasters, Clover Sonoma, and the law firm of Helbraun Levey.
We'll be announcing Jubilee talent today, and it is an incredible lineup. Keep your eyes on Instagram. If you are coming to Jubilee, make sure you're reading all your emails and you have downloaded your CLEAR pass. No one will be admitted it without it.
If you bought a ticket, but aren't getting your emails, make sure to email us at Jubilee@CherryBombe.com. Also, please note, Jubilee is sold out. We won't be able to admit anyone at the door who doesn't already have a ticket. Last but not least, I want to give a special shout out to our events team, Mary Giuliani Catering and Events. They have been very patient and very wonderful to work with. With that, let's get on with our show. Enjoy my chat with food stylist, Christine Tobin.
Kerry Diamond:
Christine Tobin, welcome to Radio Cherry Bombe.
Christine Tobin:
Nice to see you. Thank you for having me.
Kerry Diamond:
Let's jump right into this because we have some really exciting stuff to talk about. You were the food stylist on Julia, the new HBO Max series based on the life of Julia Child. That absolutely sounds like a dream assignment and you are beaming right now. I know you can't see yourself in the mirror, but you are.
Christine Tobin:
Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
Dying to know, how did this gig come your way?
Christine Tobin:
A phone call. A simple phone call came from one of the producers. In fact, the day I was in Cherry Bombe, your lobby, I had received a text from that producer saying that they wanted me to work on Julia. I had just briefly spoken with them, and had like a little meet and greet phone call, and asked if I was interested. And it was the day that I was coming to talk to you that I found out in your lobby that I got the gig.
Kerry Diamond:
Wow. So it's so cool that you're back here now to talk about it.
Christine Tobin:
Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
You have to tell us more. They didn't just call. They didn't just open a phone book and pick your name randomly.
Christine Tobin:
No.
Kerry Diamond:
Why? Why you?
Christine Tobin:
Well, first, I'm the single food stylist in the local union in New England, so I'm sort of the go-to person, happily. So someone had given this producer my name, and she called, and this was for the pilot. The whole focus was to get the pilot done and see what happens.
And I've worked on one pilot before that didn't have then the sign on for a full series, so this was sort of like, "Okay, let's play around and have a few weeks of fun." But my initial reaction to it when I hung up the phone was like, "This is big and I hope I can pull it off."
Kerry Diamond:
But you didn't want to get your hopes up having been down that road before.
Christine Tobin:
Knowing how incredible the food aspect of it and everyone really loving, and maybe I'm speaking selfishly, I love seeing food on film, on screen, so I just went in with a bit of confidence that it could continue.
We prepped for the pilot, and then a day before shooting the pilot is when we closed down due to COVID.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh.
Christine Tobin:
So we had five-ish months of waiting around. So we did all this prep, and it was this huge scene that we had shopped for, and prepped for, and coached for, and then everyone got to take home-
Kerry Diamond:
Oh gosh.
Christine Tobin:
... too.
Kerry Diamond:
But you had the pilot in the can.
Christine Tobin:
So we had to come back then in April to shoot the pilot, so we had five months off between prep.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh no. You had prepped the whole thing.
Christine Tobin:
Mm-hmm.
Kerry Diamond:
You hadn't even shot the pilot and you were prepping for the pilot.
Christine Tobin:
Yes.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh my gosh. Okay.
Christine Tobin:
Prepping for the pilot. Crew got called in from the producers. We have to shut this down. There's this thing called COVID.
Kerry Diamond:
What went through your mind?
Christine Tobin:
A lot of concern around us with other crew members, a lot of voices with questions of how long this is going to take, and the producer at the time on that pilot, just no one had any answers.
Kerry Diamond:
Wow. Yeah. We knew nothing back then.
Christine Tobin:
It was like, I don't know, two weeks, three weeks? And we looked at each other like, "Okay, we could put all the chickens in the freezer, butter in the freezer, and just see what happens." And then the time just kept going by.
Kerry Diamond:
So, so much stop and start. Is that hard for you?
Christine Tobin:
At that point, just like everyone, the concern for our families and just kind of making sense of how to just survive, and not get... Just the confusion of it.
Kerry Diamond:
Right. Right. I remember it well. Yeah. It's weird putting ourselves back in that frame of mind, that mid-March kind of frame of mind when you just weren't thinking about anything else. You were just processing what was going on. We'll go back to happy stuff. I know we're freaking everybody out-
Christine Tobin:
No, no.
Kerry Diamond:
... with this conversation. So Christine, you made it sound like they gave you this gig because you were the only option in the Boston area. I don't believe that.
Christine Tobin:
I'm able to say in confidence that I earned this opportunity, and for someone, anyone who knows me, they know that I'm someone that is riddled with self-doubt. Every single experience of my life brought to a full circle moment, and opportunity just to follow through.
Kerry Diamond:
I'm curious, what was your relationship with Julia Child before this?
Christine Tobin:
Well, I grew up outside the Boston area, so as a New Englander, you can't... She's a cherished icon, but growing up, being in a Sicilian-Irish household, my mother and my Nana who lived with us were the big culinary... They were the chefs. And my dad would occasionally pick up the Julia Child cookbook and his dish was the duck a l'orange. So that was like he went to the fanciful things, and really loved Julia Child. And my mom and my Nana did... There's always the sauce, and all that culinary focus.
And being in my generation in Boston and with PBS, as the Public Broadcast System, we had Julia Child. We had Bob Ross. If we were able to sort of catch channel 56 to watch wrestling, and then Double Creature Feature, that was a full Saturday.
So Julia Child was always on and usually in the morning. And then sort of fast forward to the time in school when we had home economics, and I would come home with the recipes. My mom recently gave me the treasure chest of all the things, and I would sit at the counter, and emulate her, but I would sit and mise en place without even realizing that it's a mise en place. I just did what Julia would do, and in my head, just talk through the macaroni and cheese, or the breakfast muffins with the butter and all that. So she was a big part of my upbringing, as was Bob Ross, who was the artist painting, so it's sort of this fusion of what was sometimes even background sound.
Kerry Diamond:
And as we'll talk about you went to art school. I'm amazed you had home ec.
Christine Tobin:
Oh yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
Is that in like middle school, high school?
Christine Tobin:
Middle school.
Kerry Diamond:
I never had home ec. I didn't learn anything practical in school.
Christine Tobin:
Oh yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
I wish I had.
Christine Tobin:
Sewing a button, ironing a shirt, all of it. We need to bring that back.
Kerry Diamond:
We do need to bring that back. I often think that that should be something that Cherry Bombe takes on-
Christine Tobin:
Oh, that'd be great.
Kerry Diamond:
... like a national project to kind of get schools to bring that back because I just think of all the skills that I didn't have and that most kids don't have today.
Christine Tobin:
Mm-hmm. I agree.
Kerry Diamond:
Do you remember what you thought of Julia at that age? I know it's hard, but was she sort of like this friendly aunt in the background on the TV set?
Christine Tobin:
Exactly. Just a voice of encouragement. She could have been the wallpaper, she was just all always on. And I just remember my dad sitting and chuckling. My mom was always very busy. She did all the busy work, but my dad would sit there with the paper, and this would always be on, and later on, he would go see her speak, and he had a signed, an autographed edition of her book that she autographed. So he was like a big fan.
Kerry Diamond:
I have seen the series and it's so wonderful, and I really can't wait for all of you to see it. But it was interesting to see things like typewriters in there and I was like, "Gosh." Phone booths, things like that. And I just thought there are a lot of people who might watch this and be like, "Wow. People typed on typewriters and had to put a nickel in a phone booth to make a phone call."
Christine Tobin:
Being in Julia's kitchen, for example, and just touching not only the period correct set dressing and stuff like the telephone with the long cord, and it's just... It's always fun revisiting something that I remember as a kid. I feel like our generation is a very lucky generation to have-
Kerry Diamond:
Right. Julia had a landline.
Christine Tobin:
Mm-hmm.
Kerry Diamond:
I laughed when she picked it up and stretched the cord across the kitchen. And I'll ask you, listeners, how many of you know what the term landline even means these days? Okay, Christine, I want to know, how did you even go about preparing for this job?
Christine Tobin:
On the pilot, we had Dave Gulick, who was the prop master, who I've worked with in other films. And it was him that gave me the freedom to take anything culinary and run with it. And that's unusual because the craft of food stylist is always under prop, so you have to sort of take that direction. And I thank him so much for letting me just breathe through all of it, and work hard, and focus on just the culinary aspects that then brought into the series and that work.
So on the series, we have the script. I dissect the script and flesh out these crazy outlines. I drove people crazy, these crazy outlines of what props are needed versus what set dressing needs need to be met. So then I would flesh those out. So I acted as a bridge between these two departments.
Then from there, really going through the cookbook and completely dissecting her words, which is so amazing to revisit the book in a different light because it's incredibly written and structured, and wanting to make sure that those messages were met in our preparation for the food.
Then came images, mood boards. Once those were established, brought in to production meetings, then culinary meetings. So it was fully communicated before each food scene what needed to be met at stage, or if there needs to be coaching with Sarah, although she was a rock star. She's like, "I got kids. I got this."
Kerry Diamond:
It looked like she did her own cooking.
Christine Tobin:
Oh she did a lot of the handwork, yeah. And then for B-rolls and things like that, like they'll have me come in and I would change in the walk-in in the kitchen.
Kerry Diamond:
So you were also stand-in of sorts.
Christine Tobin:
Mm-hmm.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh, that's so interesting. What was it like walking into that kitchen? Because they completely recreated Julia's kitchen.
Christine Tobin:
Yeah. It was wild. And just touching everything in the cupboards, we spent months there just knowing where everything was, and where everything... It was wild and-
Kerry Diamond:
And the famous peg board.
Christine Tobin:
The famous peg board. And then about 20 feet away from that kitchen was our kitchen, which was built special for us, which is, at least in my experience, I've never had a kitchen, an industrial kitchen built on stage. So this raw, dark warehouse, I met, I think it's the second day that they opened the door, and I met with the production designers, and the head of construction. And they're like, "Well, where do you want this kitchen?"
It took a lot of back and forth because the producers are from New York and they're used to having the big food trucks, the 53-foot food trucks. And they're like, "Well, what are you thinking about?" I said, "Well, we had this small space during the pilot and that worked really well for us because we cook communally for each scene. And I'd like to continue that because that's the spirit of how I cook for a set, but also how Julia would cook for others."
So they asked me to draw up on a piece of paper my dream kitchen, and I had windows so we could see out just to see if people when things are rolling with those red lights, but also more importantly, for people to see in and watch us throughout the process.
And so it became a real heart beat of this dark space. It was like open door policy, and everyone would come visit, and sit and have lunch. It was from that space. And I was without nothing. I had walk-in refrigerator. They plugged in plumbing, sanitation. It was a full operating restaurant.
Kerry Diamond:
This really sounds like a dream gig.
Christine Tobin:
We are so fully supported by the production to get everything on the culinary end right on this and I'm grateful for that.
Kerry Diamond:
I love that you said you wanted to be able to see out, but you also wanted people to be able to see in. Does this go back to your performance art days?
Christine Tobin:
Maybe. I just wanted to make sure that people saw that we were working and see how much work it is, because all the food that you see on camera, very much like any other job I've been on, is real food. It's labor intensive. I mean, we were never ever sitting down. And if we were wrapped on a scene, we were packaging up all these beautiful foods to then go into a communal refrigerator outside the kitchen so crew members could come and take food home, or lunch, or whatever. So it was a full functioning as if we were a catering gig, or a restaurant because it was something either to prep for for a day, the day after, or in that moment. So-
Kerry Diamond:
So I'm going to use a scene from Episode 1 as an example. I re-watched Episode 1 last night and there is a scene in the kitchen where, this won't give anything away, where Julia and Judith Jones are trying to talk Julia's husband Paul into something.
Christine Tobin:
Mm-hmm.
Kerry Diamond:
I won't say what. And Julia serves roast chicken, green salad and peas.
Christine Tobin:
Yup. Best.
Kerry Diamond:
Did you follow Julia's recipes?
Christine Tobin:
Everything.
Kerry Diamond:
You did.
Christine Tobin:
Everything, everything, everything in this show is Julia Child's recipes, an exception for the restaurant scenes. She goes to her favorite restaurant, so we got to play with different ethnic cuisines in that time period as well, which is a lot of fun.
Kerry Diamond:
There are a lot of great restaurant scenes in the first episode.
Christine Tobin:
Oh, I'm so jealous that you got to see it.
Kerry Diamond:
They go and get oysters, and steamed lobster, and then there's a scene, and I think the restaurant's called Henri IV, Henry the fourth.
Christine Tobin:
Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
I think that was their first-
Christine Tobin:
Oh, that's their favorite restaurant. Well-
Kerry Diamond:
But I read up on it.
Christine Tobin:
Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
It's the first French restaurant in Cambridge.
Christine Tobin:
Mm-hmm. They were there quite a bit through the series.
Kerry Diamond:
Yes. Yes. This was the first episode.
Christine Tobin:
And the best thing about those food scenes for people to know, who, and rightfully so, question the wastefulness of food on film, and another beautiful aspect of having this kitchen built is that everything was repurposed. So if there were things that were, say, for that chicken scene, for example, anything that was untouched, we would just wrap tightly, or repurpose it for then Henri.
Kerry Diamond:
I love that you had a community refrigerator outside-
Christine Tobin:
Yeah. Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
... where people could take food home.
Christine Tobin:
They took food. And then we had a compost program. We had recycling. We had deliveries to various donation spots. So this production took care of a lot of things that myself and my team felt really strongly about.
Kerry Diamond:
Have to talk about Sarah's performance again.
Christine Tobin:
Mm-hmm.
Kerry Diamond:
I know I feel like I'm repeating myself, but-
Christine Tobin:
Please do. No, please do.
Kerry Diamond:
She was so good.
Christine Tobin:
Mm-hmm.
Kerry Diamond:
I mean, she really... The word that comes to mind is tender.
Christine Tobin:
Mm-hmm, very.
Kerry Diamond:
It is such a tender portrayal of Julia Child.
Christine Tobin:
Her eyes. We would just sit and look at each other's eyes and not have to speak to another. She's just that sort of person that just meets you with such warmth, and I never met her as Sarah. I've only seen her in costume, so I only know her as Julia, which I'm totally fine with.
Kerry Diamond:
The whole cast is tremendous. I mean, David Hyde Pierce is so wonderful as Paul. Avis DeVoto, Bebe Neuwirth, I mean, what a surprise she is. I mean, she's just delightful in every scene that she's in. I loved everyone. I mean, everyone turns in a great performance. Isabella Rossini is in it. I mean, it's just incredible casting.
Christine Tobin:
Everyone was very friendly and warm. It was a really wonderful experience.
Kerry Diamond:
So was there anything particular about a period movie that's different from contemporary?
Christine Tobin:
Oh yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
In terms of how you approach it. Tell us a little bit about that.
Christine Tobin:
Oh, I think that comes more into where the set dressing and the prop plays the biggest roles, and sourcing those items or equipment that was needed to make her performance believable. The food aspect, her recipes are classic recipes, so there's no way of like finessing things or something to make it period correct.
The fun part is because you have illustrations in that cookbook, unless, you could Google coq au vin and see 5,000, but it's her coq au vin that we get to see and enjoy. But-
Kerry Diamond:
Right, there are no photos in Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Mm-hmm.
Christine Tobin:
And that was part of the prepping process before each episode, when a new director would come in. During the culinary meeting with the mood boards and the tested recipe, it was a whole sometimes over two-hour meeting. You want to sell the recipe, I would say. You want people at home cooking these dishes.
Kerry Diamond:
One thing people might be surprised about is to hear you say that you made real food. We've all heard stories about food trickery, and fake food that food stylists make, but has that always been your thing, or is that just becoming more in vogue in terms of food styling for movies?
Christine Tobin:
I don't know any other way of doing it, and I say that out of I'm just maybe naive. It's the easiest thing for me to do, frankly. If I'm asked to do something that is fake food, I have someone in special effects that I'll work with because that's more, to me, my opinion, that's more of a special effects gig. Everything I've ever done has been real food.
Kerry Diamond:
Even TV commercials?
Christine Tobin:
I haven't been on a commercial in quite some time, but yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh, okay.
Kerry Diamond:
Yeah.
Christine Tobin:
Okay.
Kerry Diamond:
Because I know you had done those in the past.
Christine Tobin:
Mm-hmm.
Kerry Diamond:
But I definitely remember when we talked about Little Women.
Christine Tobin:
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Kerry Diamond:
You were the food stylist on the Greta Gerwig Little Women. You had talked about it was real food.
Christine Tobin:
All real food, beautiful, loved, and thoughtfully made food, for sure.
Kerry Diamond:
And I'm sure the cast can taste that, seriously.
Christine Tobin:
Absolutely.
Kerry Diamond:
Yeah. Yeah. And they probably appreciate that if they have to do take after take.
Christine Tobin:
With the sweetbreads scene where they're eating, they all came into the kitchen, the whole cast, because they never had sweetbread. You can't fake sweetbread.
Kerry Diamond:
Did you turn them all into sweetbread fans?
Christine Tobin:
Yeah. They all thought it was delicious. Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
Any other favorite moments from the shoot?
Christine Tobin:
Especially during the lunch hour, I really loved getting onto the set alone and dressing it so when people came back, it was more of the time element to it. This way everyone comes back and we just bounce right in. But it became like installation art for me, and dressing and dirtying things up. There was one in particular day before the cooking lesson scene where I was able to sit in mise en place and get everything ready for when they're rolling the dough, and the class, and the shrimp, and all this. Patrizia von Brandenstein, who is the production designer, Amadeus-
Kerry Diamond:
Wait, she worked on Amadeus?
Christine Tobin:
Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
Wow.
Christine Tobin:
She won the Oscar, so she-
Kerry Diamond:
I love that movie.
Christine Tobin:
She came in and she's a very quiet woman, but you listen to her when she says something. And she's looking around, and it's just the two of us. I was like, "Oh my God." And so I'm just here getting things ready, and she took a bowl of flour, and she stuck a hand in it, and she threw it on the floor, and I'm like, "This is great."
So the two of us just made a complete mess of the kitchen space, Julia's kitchen, home kitchen, to make it, of course, believable that this cooking class of these women were taking place. And then when everyone returned, they're like, "This is great." And Sarah had said to me, "You're an artist." And I said, "You know what? Right. This is art."
Kerry Diamond:
One of the interesting things about the Julia series is it treats Julia as a cultural icon, not a culinary icon. I mean, obviously, she's a culinary icon and they touch on that. But, they cover how she changed public television, her role as a feminist, a working woman, a breadwinner, all these things. Was this aspect of Julia's legacy something you had thought about before?
Christine Tobin:
I had just turned 50, and I'm just starting my career. I started with this show. I mean, I've been doing this for a long time, but I definitely feel like this is a major turning point, not just professionally, but personally, because I learned and grew so much through the process, and what she's given us, as a woman of midlife having embarked at that point in life in this humongous process of self discovery, and she listened to her own voice.
Kerry Diamond:
The show really shows how bold she was in terms of coming up with this idea, pitching the idea, pursuing the idea. And I did a little research. I was curious, like how many people had TVs back then? And I think it was over 80% of the country at that point had TVs, and shows like The Jetsons, and The Beverly Hillbillies were big shows. But I think those two having come from Europe probably didn't have as much exposure to televisions as Americans had.
Christine Tobin:
No, none. Yeah. And definitely a lot of people in Europe still don't know who Julia Child is.
Kerry Diamond:
And still look down on TV.
Christine Tobin:
And still look down on TV.
Kerry Diamond:
Probably less, probably less so today. I think TV's a-
Christine Tobin:
It's hard to avoid now.
Kerry Diamond:
It's hard to avoid. It's just a completely different thing. I mean, and even just calling it TV, I don't even own a TV, but I watch everything on my computers, and my laptop, and my phone, and, I don't know. It's a whole different world. Okay. Want to talk about your career path.
Christine Tobin:
My focus was fine arts and my idea of what I wanted as a career was definitely not to sit at a computer because at that point with graphic design, it was going from drawing on velum, to doing everything on the computer, and I'm the worst tech person ever.
So I just wanted to continue working with my hands, so I went to the Museum School forever. I mean it's diploma, BFA of the fifth year certificate, which then led to a show at The Museum of Fine Arts, so I then was a gallery artist for a bit. And then-
Kerry Diamond:
I noticed you had a lot of schooling on the resume.
Christine Tobin:
A lot. I've got a lot of schooling and I worked four jobs to support that because I paid my way through college. But it was the one place that I had my people and I couldn't not be there, so I invested in that.
Kerry Diamond:
A lot of folks think food styling is just making food look pretty.
Christine Tobin:
Mm-hmm.
Kerry Diamond:
What else is there to it? I know there's a lot.
Christine Tobin:
Yeah. There's just so many things. I know how there's food to look pretty. I think because I'm here to talk with in regards to film, I think it being a totally different beast because the still work that I do in editorial helps identify for me how the food should look on camera and film. To get from point A to point B is like loss of communication, a multitude of foods being ordered that you need to take care of, and babysit, and prep out.
Kerry Diamond:
So maybe the better question's not what skills do you need to be a food stylist, but what temperament do you need to be a food stylist?
Christine Tobin:
Oh, yeah. That's a good one because we have a bad rap sometimes.
Kerry Diamond:
Do you? I didn't know that. Are you all prima donnas?
Christine Tobin:
No, I know this because people have said that to me like, "Oh, you're really laid back for a food stylist." I'm like, "Oh. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" My hair can get on fire, but it's more like being in the weeds when you're at a restaurant, and you're working front of the house or back of the house that I operate best in chaos. And I think best and I'm more focused in the midst of chaos. I don't know if that makes any sense, but it's when I'm sitting still, and needing to really process and think, is when things can go a little nutty, but it's just food. How could you not have fun with food?
Kerry Diamond:
There are so many beautiful food movies out there. I would love to know what's on your like, I don't know, I won't say top 10 because we could be here all day. What are some of your like top five, top three food movies?
Christine Tobin:
Okay. So studying film in school, I first got turned on by A Cook, A Thief, His Wife & Her Lover by Peter Greenaway. So that sort of sparked some stuff.
Kerry Diamond:
That is a classic. I haven't watched that in maybe decades.
Christine Tobin:
I mean, it's brutal. Then I've watched Tampopo in school, and then that's led into the Babette's, and the Mostly Marthas, and then come shows like Anne with an E. I loved it so much that I tried reaching the food stylist and ended up coming up with someone completely different in Ireland who shares the same last name as me, Anne Marie Tobin, hello, that I hope to meet someday in person, so anyways-
Kerry Diamond:
I love this. Anne Marie Tobin, if you're listening, hi.
Christine Tobin:
Yes. Hi. And then also there's Midnight Diner, the Tokyo series.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh, I don't know that either.
Christine Tobin:
It's incredible.
Kerry Diamond:
Okay. So much we have to watch now.
Christine Tobin:
Just the bowl of white rice with a pat of butter, and a splash of soy sauce, and the comforts that you experience watching the diners is... You have to watch. It's so good.
Kerry Diamond:
I know you are busy, and you probably have a lot of things you want to check out while you're here in the city. Did we do a speed round last time? I can't even remember.
Christine Tobin:
We did.
Kerry Diamond:
Okay. We're doing it again.
Christine Tobin:
Mm-hmm.
Kerry Diamond:
Coffee or tea? And how do you take it?
Christine Tobin:
A coffee with a splash of milk in the morning. And then throughout the day, either peppermint tea or chamomile tea. But at the end of my day, every night with my daughter, I have chamomile tea.
Kerry Diamond:
That's a nice ritual.
Christine Tobin:
Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
Most used kitchen tool.
Christine Tobin:
A dull chef's knife.
Kerry Diamond:
Wait, why a dull chef's knife? That's the worst thing, Christine.
Christine Tobin:
Because I'm a single mom, the idea of having a super sharp knife around, and if I was to ever... And because I cut myself all the time, it is a joke. I'm always cutting myself. So to have something not too sharp, for me, psychologically, I'm like, it's not that bad. It's like a-
Kerry Diamond:
It's so funny that you say that because we always had dulled knives at home growing up, but we were in the emergency room all the time for stitches-
Christine Tobin:
Because they were so dull.
Kerry Diamond:
No. We never cut ourselves with knives. We were always falling off bikes and swing sets and-
Christine Tobin:
Oh.
Kerry Diamond:
But now I think if we had had sharp knives, we probably would've been in the emergency room even more, right? That makes sense. Okay. Last pantry purchase.
Christine Tobin:
I think about this because the last thing I cooked before coming here was chicken Parmesan and I had to get cans of tomato, so that's my pantry. And that's kind of an always a pantry item in my house is... Can't get enough.
Kerry Diamond:
What is a song that makes you smile?
Christine Tobin:
So Harry Styles saved my daughter's COVID experience and has brought such joy to our lives, and I did not even know he existed before COVID. And we actually went to his concert, my daughter's first concert, and it was filled with such joyfulness that look how I'm smiling. See? It's like, I just think about him and I'm like-
Kerry Diamond:
So all Harry Style's songs.
Christine Tobin:
Just he brings a special moment between myself and my daughter at all times, so I can't get enough of that.
Kerry Diamond:
Dream travel destination.
Christine Tobin:
I'll go anywhere. The most exotic place I've been is Cranston, Rhode Island and now here in New York, so we would love to start traveling.
Kerry Diamond:
I think we all know the answer to this next question, but maybe you'll surprise us. If you had to be trapped on a desert island with one food celebrity, who would it be and why?
Christine Tobin:
Well, you would think Julia Child. She could come along, but I wanted to take the opportunity to talk about Eric Kim from The New York Times, who I think is an incredible food writer. Korean American is his cookbook that just came out. I haven't gotten it yet, but I look forward to it. And I think of someone that I would love to sit and talk to, he has such a tender way of delivering not only the message of his ethnicity and his culture, but his family life, and just like the sense of humor that he has.
Kerry Diamond:
I didn't ask, what's next for you?
Christine Tobin:
I have a little bit of time. I'm wrapping. I'm on Holdovers right now, which is an Alexander Payne film with Paul Giamatti, so I'm wrapping that up this month. And I just wrapped a cookbook with Milk Street again, so a pantry cookbook. And now I have a few weeks of just I'm waiting for the phone to ring and you know that I'll say yes to it, so I'm really excited about what is ahead, and just enjoying watching the series of Julia because I don't... I'm looking at you and I'm so jealous that you got to see everything, but to celebrate everybody's hard work on it because it was definitely a labor of love for top to bottom. And-
Kerry Diamond:
Speaking of which, tell us who was on your team?
Christine Tobin:
Rachel Michael and Caroline White were my two full-time culinary assistants. They're my sisters. And then maybe three to four I don't want to say part-timers, but like special guests that will come in based on the scene and the specialty item that we needed to have prepared. So [Brianna Borrelli 00:34:35] was one of them who came to assist with bread making, and she was the baker that helped me with Little Women. So some newbies and some culinary heroes for sure.
Kerry Diamond:
Christine, you're amazing. You did such beautiful work on the show. It is such a fantastic series and I hope everybody gets the opportunity to watch it and see a little bit of what you do.
Christine Tobin:
Thank you so much. It was an incredible opportunity, for sure.
Kerry Diamond:
That's it for today's show. Thank you so much to Christine Tobin for joining me today. You can catch all her hard work on Julia, which starts streaming this Thursday on HBO Max.
Thank you to Foxtrot Market for supporting today's show. Don't forget to apply to Up & Comers if you have a cool brand. And Jubilee folks, I'll see you all very soon. Read your emails and download your CLEAR pass. I can't wait to see everybody. Radio Cherry Bombe is a production of Cherry Bombe Magazine. Our theme song is by the band Tra La La. Thank you to Joseph Hazan, studio engineer for Newsstand Studios. And thank you to our assistant producer, Jenna Sadhu. And thanks to you for listening. You are the bombe.