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> Michael Field, 49, a relative newcomer who gave up a successful career as a concert pianist to conduct socialite cooking classes in his Manhattan apartment and to write the highly regarded Michael Field Cooking School. He is the consulting editor for LIFE'S forthcoming 16-volume series, Foods of the World. An uncompromising traditionalist, Field maintains that "cooks are not creative; they're simply brilliant technicians." Comparing the pianist's task of illuminating a Bach cantata with the task of a cook, he says: "You don't illuminate a souffle—it either rises or it doesn't."
> James Beard, 63, a jolly giant who is 6 ft. 4 in. tall, according to his own estimate weighs "275 lbs. plus," and is today's king of gourmets. "My mania is my profession," he has said. It began in his childhood in Portland, Ore. "I was on all fours," he recalls. "I crawled into the vegetable bin, settled on a giant onion and ate it, skin and all." He has been an omnivorous eater ever since. Author of 14 cookbooks, including the bestselling paperback James Beard Cookbook (over 500,000 copies), he has probably done more to get men into the kitchen than anybody before Julia Child, whom he considers to be "one of the greats in cooking—she will be a household word for a long, long time." Julia returns the compliment: "It's thanks to Jim that there is a cooking fraternity."
Dinner for 22. Julia is all for men being in the kitchen. "A man in a chef's apron is a fine sight," she exclaims. "They are marvelous. They're more daring, while women are often timid and tend to get bogged down in detail. I think one can see from history that the great creators are men."
But though J. Edgar Hoover rises early to cook Sunday-morning popovers, Almaden Vineyards President Louis Benoist perfects his crab gumbo, or Actor Burgess Meredith spends hours concocting his "All Mighty Salad," the brunt of cooking and planning still remains the woman's task. Today's hostess, jealous of her favorite recipes, prefers to make them herself, even when she can well afford a cook or caterer. And the change in party and daily diet is nothing short of revolutionary.
"Mother never cooked anything that wasn't in a can or a container, and all she had to do was warm it up," says exurban New York Matron Maria Cunningham, 31. Not Maria. Veal, lamb and chicken are her favorites, and she and her husband like Julia's recipes for saute de veau Marengo, gigot de pre-sale roti a la moutarde, and supreme de volatile aux champignons, which they served recently at a dinner for 22. Says Maria: "The only thing that made it possible is that Julia tells all the things you can do in advance."