Julia Child is known widely for bringing French cuisine to America. Before she was a chef she worked as a research assistant for the Secret Intelligence branch of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) which was a predecessor of the CIA. In that position, she met her soon to be husband, Paul, and they were relocated to France together.
Before she met her husband, Child relied mostly on frozen foods and hadn’t given food much thought. That changed when she attended Le Cordon Bleu in France. Middle class women in the 1940s typically had servants to do cooking and were expected to get married, have children, and be good mothers, not pursue careers such as being a chef. Julia Child changed that.
After attending Le Cordon Bleu, she started her own cooking school with two of her French friends called The School of the Three Gourmands. Her and those same friends then went on to write Mastering the Art of French Cooking, which would be for Americans and the first French cookbook published in English. This made French cuisine accessible to Americans.
The Childs eventually moved back to Cambridge, Massachusetts where she was soon approached to host a cooking show called The French Chef, which she won and Emmy and Peabody award for. American people fell in love with her passion for cooking, straightforward techniques, humor, and lighthearted and fun approach to cooking.
Julia Child helped women feel less oppressed by breaking into the field of being a professional chef as a woman. Her cooking and inspiration to women caused a huge paradigm shift in American culture and attitude toward food. Julia Child was also a perfect example of intrinsic motivation because her passion for cooking was so powerful and inspired so many others. So, in the words of Julia Child, “bon appétit!”
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Julia-Child
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/julia-childs-recipe-for-a-thoroughly-modern-marriage-86160745/
https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/julia-child#:~:text=Born%20on%20August%2015%2C%201912,life%20of%20wealth%20and%20privilege.&text=Growing%20to%20a%20height%20of,the%20Vagabonds%2C%20a%20hiking%20club.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/us-news-blog/2012/aug/15/julia-child-100th-birthday-blog
I love Julia Child!! I began cooking a lot this year and I remember being inspired by the movie Julie and Julia which described a modern day NYC resident (Julie) who attempts to flee her mundane 9-5 career by cooking a recipe every day of the year from Julia's cooking book. Their lives parallel to a certain extent as they navigate support from their families as they pursue cooking. Julia's light hearted approach to cooking was characterized by her messiness in the kitchen. She was creative in her ways of incorporating humor with her cooking. I definitely think she changed the paradigm of cooking, especially for women by encouraging them to venture outside food of the traditional home kitchen. Her outspoken manner in the kitchen made her a loud voice in the industry and made her creative products one easy to consume (much like her food).
ReplyDeleteI can't believe I have never heard of Julia Child! It is always so interesting to learn about the people who started the normalization of women entering the work-force. While you say the American people fell in love with her, I wonder about what sort of criticisms she received for her work. It isn't often we learn about women who are pioneers in their field, and so I really appreciate this post.
ReplyDeleteChild's move to France reminds me of T.S. Eliot's move to Europe. He was bored of life in Missouri and sought an atmosphere that would support and foster his creativity. It seems like Childs did this too. I have seen this pattern in many creatives so far!
My roommate has Julia Child, Simone Beck, and Louisette Bertholle's book Mastering the Art of French Cooking in our kitchen. My roommate is passionate about cooking, especially French and Creole foods, and she often makes recipes from that book. I've flipped through it a few times, but I'm not much of a cook. I think Julia Child is unique because of her "american-in-Paris" approach to cooking. Her techniques are not necessarily new - the French have perfected their cuisine over centuries. But she did bring that art to the United States in an accessible way, and most importantly, she was a graceful, likable entertainer.
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