Curiosity 59: Julia Child

We've become serious TV watchers in the evenings—something that I'd like to change once the new year rolls around. Maybe. Then again, it's comforting to dig in with some good storytelling, especially in the dark of winter.

Recently we wrapped up the fifth season of Six Feet Under. Such a good show. And then we cast about for what to watch next. I mined some old recommendations from here and there, and came up with an eclectic list that we are now watching in a revolving fashion, starting with the newest (seventh) season of Justified (which is confusing enough that I may not see it through) and including the old-ish (2009) Men of a Certain Age and 2022's Somebody Somewhere, funny and poignant both. But mixed in there, too, is the new (also 2022) show Julia.

How in the world did Julia Child (1912–2004) become such a cultural icon? She's so unlikely, really. And yet so delightful.

I won't detail her life here—it's all on Wikipedia and elsewhere. A few interesting facts, though: 

Child, née McWilliams, grew up in Pasadena, CA, in a well-to-do family. When she graduated from Smith College in 1934, her initial ambition was to write novels and magazine pieces. Her first job, in NYC, was as an advertising copywriter.

She perhaps got her "start" with cooking during WWII, when she worked for the Office of Strategic Services (at six foot two, she was too tall to join the Women's Army Corps [WACs] or the US Navy's WAVEs]). For a year during that time she worked with the OSS's Emergency Sea Rescue Equipment Section, trying to develop a shark repellent to keep the fish from detonating underwater explosives. The resulting concoction is still in use today.

Child did not become interested in cuisine until she married her husband, Paul Child, who had a sophisticated palate and loved fine dining. They met in the OSS in Kandy, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), and in 1948 they moved to Paris, where he worked with the US Information Agency. 

In 1951, Child graduated from the Cordon Bleu cooking school in Paris. Around then she joined the Cercle des Gourmettes (established in 1929), where she met Simone Beck, who was working on a cookbook. The two of them, along with a third gourmande, began teaching French cooking to American women in Child's Paris kitchen. This ultimately led to the 1961 publication of the co-authored 726-page Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

The TV series The French Chef followed in 1962. That's more or less where the series Julia begins. I remember my mother watching that show, and using Child's cookbook. She (my mother) enjoyed cooking, and I think the "fine cuisine" aspect of the book appealed to her—something more haute than meatloaf and potatoes.

Back in those days, pilot episodes were taped over, so Child's first three appearances—featuring the French omelet, coq au vin, and onion soup—no longer exist. Ultimately, the show ran for ten seasons, until 1973. Here's coq au vin from season 2:

In 1964 she received a Peabody Award; as the citation put it, she had done "more than show us how good cooking is achieved; by her delightful demonstrations she has brought the pleasures of good living into many American homes."

She went on to host various other cooking shows, including several with other chefs like Jacques Pépin, and to write several other books. But for me, it's Mastering the Art of French Cooking and The French Chef that made her the icon she obviously remains today.

In 2001, the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History acquired Child's original kitchen, built in 1961 in their Cambridge, MA, home and designed by her husband, Paul. The counters are two inches higher than standard, to accommodate her height. It was the setting for three of her later cooking shows.  

Here's what Julia had to say in 1990 about modern-day nutritionists and their objections to ingredients like butter and cream: "Everybody is overreacting. If fear of food continues, it will be the death of gastronomy in the United States. Fortunately, the French don't suffer from the same hysteria we do. We should enjoy food and have fun. It is one of the simplest and nicest pleasures in life."

And yes, that would have been a good quote to end on, if it weren't for the fact that my friend Nina mentioned a Saturday Night Live skit with Dan Ackroyd as Julia Child, from 1978, and... I can't not end without sharing it. See? American icon!