Julia Child corner
The “French Chef” episode on the screen features award-winning pastry chef and author James Dodge, who is proudly the only chef other than Jacques Pépin to do more than one of Julia Child’s 201 episodes of “The French Chef.” She and Jacques Pépin recorded 22 episodes of this particular PBS show together.
Child is widely praised for bringing French cooking to America and teaching us all how to cook it through her cookbooks, starting with Mastering the Art of French Cooking, co-authored with France natives Louisette Bertholle and Simone Beck.
Many items displayed here are the same as some in her kitchens in France, as photographed by her husband, Paul Child, in the book France is a Feast by Alex Prud’Homme and Katie Pratt.
Child was born Julia McWilliams on August 15, 1912 in Pasadena, California and passed away August 13, 2004 in Montecito near Santa Barbara, California. She studied at Smith College and at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and, like some other prominent cookbook authors, initially accompanied her husband to Paris for his work in the U.S. Foreign Service.
Julia had already joined the Office of Strategic Services’ (OSS) Office of Secret Intelligence, precursor to the CIA, to become a spy. She never made spy but did help develop a recipe for shark repellent to protect the Navy in ocean waters.
Standing 6 feet 2 inches tall, she played tennis, golf, and basketball.