“People who love to eat are always the best people” (Julia Child)

“People who love to eat are always the best people” was written by American chef and author Julia Child (1912-2004) to her friend Avis DeVoto on January 5, 1953. The quotation wasn’t well known for fifty years, but then appeared in the books Julia Child: a life (2007) by Laura Shapiro and As always, Julia: The letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto: Food, friendship, and the making of a masterpiece (2010).
 
“People who love to eat are always the best people” was put on a poster and a stencil and suddenly appeared on many websites in 2011 and 2012. The “food icon” popularity of Julia Child and the pleasantness of the quotation has tranformed a line in an obscure letter into a famous food quote.
 
   
Wikipedia: Julia Child
Julia Child (née McWilliams; August 15, 1912 - August 13, 2004) was an American chef, author, and television personality. She is recognized for introducing French cuisine to the American public with her debut cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and her subsequent television programs, the most notable of which was The French Chef, which premiered in 1963.
 
In 1996, Julia Child was ranked #46 on TV Guide’s 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time.
   
Google Books
Julia Child: a life
By Laura Shapiro
New York, NY: Lipper/Penguin
2009, ©2007
Pg. ?:
Or, as she put it to Avis early in their friendship, “People who love to eat are always the best people.”
 
Google Books
As always, Julia:
The letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto:
Food, friendship, and the making of a masterpiece
Edited by Joan Reardon
Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
2010
Pg. 425:
Jan. 5, 1953
Dear Avis:
Just a short note, to acknowledge yours which came in this morning. I’m about to rush out to do my marketing, and then settle down to my soups. I can’t tell you my emotions of love and gratitude for all your interest and hard work in the behalf of our book; you display the true marks of a Great Gourmande…which always includes the warmest and most generous of natures…and is why people who love to eat are always the best people.
 
New York (NY) Times
Books of The Times
Friends Who Didn’t Mince Words
By DWIGHT GARNER
Published: December 9, 2010
(...)
Now comes “As Always, Julia: The Letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto,” a book for completists, the sort of pathetic losers who’d line up to buy a book of Child’s grocery lists, were it available.
(...)
Child and DeVoto bond most fully around food, and mostly share the same tastes. (“People who love to eat are always the best people,” Child writes.)
   
Emmie’s Edibles 
Saturday, June 25, 2011
“People Who Love to Eat Are Always The Best People” - Julia Child
Have there ever been any truer words spoken?!?!
     
Married Minzilla
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Around the House
(...)
The Kitchen
A quote by Julia Childs hangs on a wall in our tiny dining room: “People who love to eat are always the best people.” If you do not like to eat, you are not allowed in this house. This is a fact. (The Best People Print by Kate Moore)