Julia Child

Culinary Educator, Cookbook Author, Television Chef

In this month of celebrations, we're raising a glass to toast America's most celebrated chef and cookbook author. A mentor to many other celebrated chefs, and an inspiration to millions of home chefs, Julia Child set the standard for the way we cook, the ingredients we use, and our passion for fine dining.

Early Years

During her childhood in Pasadena, California, Julia preferred outdoor activities while the family cook prepared the meals. Food was still not on this independent minded, active girl's radar when she went off to and graduated from Smith College, before returning to California. Although still unfamiliar with the workings of the kitchen, she was known as the life of the party, a good hostess, and a good American, volunteering with the Red Cross just prior to World War II. After the war began, she left for Washington and assumed an administrative position with the Office of Strategic Services, considered America's first international spy organization.

Always open to adventure, Child volunteered to help staff on an outpost in Ceylon, where she processed confidential documents, enjoyed the exotic locale, and began a friendship with her future husband Paul Child. There in Ceylon and later in Kunming, China, it was through Paul that Julia began to experience the seductive pleasures of food. As she became more inspired by Child's descriptions of his favorite French cuisine, their relationship progressed and they returned to the U.S. as Mr. and Mrs. Paul Child. Not long after their arrival back in the states, Paul accepted a post in Paris, and this was the true beginning of Julia Child's culinary life. She immersed herself in the French culture and language, and decided to take her burgeoning love of French cuisine to the next level by signing up at Paris' most famous cooking school, the Cordon Bleu.
 
Soon after completing her studies at the school, Julia joined with two Frenchwomen and fellow food lovers to start their own cooking classes to teach French home cooking to Americans. During the teaching process Julia saw the need to test and accurately record the recipes, and although the Childs' left Paris to work in other parts of Europe, she stayed in touch with her partners. Their French kitchen manual, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, was finally completed almost ten years after it was started, and its debut was the start of Julia Child's fame as author and TV star. The overwhelming positive reaction to a television appearance promoting her book led PBS station WGBH in Boston to partner with her to create "The French Chef", the first television cooking show to win an Emmy award. This was a remarkable accomplishment for anyone, yet even more significant because Julia Child was 50 years old when her show debuted.

Recognition

Peabody awards followed Emmy awards, 8 additional television series followed The French Chef, and more than 10 books followed Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Child has also been the Food Editor at Parade Magazine, was on the cover of Time Magazine, and appeared regularly on Good Morning America. She helped establish the American Institute of Wine and Food, along with eminent winemaker Robert Mondavi, as an educational association devoted to endowments and scholarships to help expose more people to the culinary arts. Considering herself primarily a teacher, she further displayed her commitment to education by helping found the International Association of Culinary Professionals.

Cooking and eating are Julia Child's passions. She loves to cook, loves to eat, and loves to convey her love affair with food. She's a perfectionist who has graciously recognized that perfection isn't always possible, using her charm to demonstrate how to turn mistakes into opportunities. Julia Child has forever changed the way we look at food, and for that we're forever grateful. Bon Appetit!

Other books by Chef Julia Child:

• Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home
• The Way to Cook
• From Julia Child's Kitchen
• The French Chef Cookbook
• Julia's Kitchen Wisdom: Essential Techniques and Recipes from a Lifetime of Cooking
• Cooking with Master Chefs