Julia Child (1912–2004)
Author of My Life in France
About the Author
Julia Child was born in Pasadena, California on August 15, 1912. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Smith College in 1934 and served with the Office of Strategic Services in East Asia during World War II. After the war, Child lived in Paris for six years, attending the famous show more Cordon Bleu cooking school. After graduating from cooking school, Child opened her own culinary institute called, L'Ecole des Trois Gourmandes with her friends Simone Bech and Louisette Bertholle. She achieved critical acclaim with her first cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking which was first published in 1961 and is still in print today and helped to popularized French cuisine in America. Starting in 1963, Child hosted the first of many award winning cooking series on PBS, where she was best known for her exuberant personality and flamboyant cooking style. Her other books include The French Chef Cookbook; From Julia Child's Kitchen; and The Way to Cook. She also filmed an instructional video series on cooking and wrote columns for various magazines and newspapers. She died of kidney failure on August 13, 2004 at the age of 91. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Belongs to Eat Life Photos
Series
Works by Julia Child
Julia's Kitchen Wisdom: Essential Techniques and Recipes from a Lifetime of Cooking (2000) — Author — 1,001 copies, 3 reviews
As Always, Julia: The Letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto (2010) — Author — 688 copies, 16 reviews
Julia Child: The Last Interview: and Other Conversations (The Last Interview Series) (2019) 30 copies, 1 review
Julia's Delicious Little Dinners: Six perfect small dinner parties to share with family and friends. (1998) 23 copies
Julia's Menus for Special Occasions: Six menus for special celebrations--from a cocktail party to a buffet dinner. (1998) 18 copies
The Way to Cook By Julia Child with *Bonus DVD Set* - The Way to Cook 6 Part Series on 2 Dvds! (2010) 9 copies
Italian Food 3 copies
McCall's – July 1978 — Contributor — 1 copy
Associated Works
Baking with Julia: Savor the Joys of Baking with America's Best Bakers (1996) — Original PBS Series — 1,058 copies, 9 reviews
Beard on Food: The Best Recipes and Kitchen Wisdom from the Dean of American Cooking (1974) — Introduction, some editions — 271 copies, 1 review
Eat, Memory: Great Writers at the Table: A Collection of Essays from the New York Times (2008) — Contributor — 180 copies, 6 reviews
The Artist's Table: A Cookbook by Master Chefs Inspired by Paintings in the National Gallery of Art (1995) — Contributor — 39 copies
An American Feast : A Celebration of Cooking on Public Television (1999) — Foreword; Contributor — 39 copies
Wine, Food & The Arts: Works Gathered By the American Institute of Wine and Food. Volume One — Introduction, some editions — 2 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Child, Julia Carolyn
- Other names
- McWilliams, Julia Carolyn
- Birthdate
- 1912-08-15
- Date of death
- 2004-08-13
- Gender
- female
- Education
- Smith College (B.A., history, 1934)
- Occupations
- cookbook writer
television host - Organizations
- Office of Strategic Services (WWII)
Smith College - Awards and honors
- Légion d'Honneur (2000)
Presidential Medal of Freedom (2003)
Emblem of Meritorious Civilian Service - Agent
- William Loverd
- Relationships
- Child, Paul (husband)
Prud'homme, Alex (nephew)
Jones, Judith B, (editor) - Short biography
- Julia Child was born in Pasadena, California. She was graduated from Smith College and worked for the OSS during World War II in Ceylon and China, where she met Paul Child. After they married they lived in Paris, where she studied at the Cordon Bleu and taught cooking with Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle, with whom she wrote the first volume of Mastering the Art of French Cooking (1961). In 1963, Boston's WGBH launched The French Chef television series, which made her a national celebrity, earning her the Peabody Award in 1965 and an Emmy in 1966. Several public television shows and numerous cookbooks followed.
- Cause of death
- kidney failure
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Pasadena, California, USA
- Places of residence
- Pasadena, California, USA
Paris, France
New York, New York, USA
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Santa Barbara, California, USA
Marseille, France (show all 7)
Washington, D.C., USA - Place of death
- Santa Barbara, California, USA
- Associated Place (for map)
- USA
Members
Reviews
A very rose-coloured glasses look on life - through diplomatic postings and local culinary dishes - in post-WII Western Europe and the US.
I can't tell if Child truly was that open and optimistic or if she really had such a charmed life. Upper middle class upbringing, diplomatic posts around Europe, with all the networking that comes with it, making connections that would eventually come in handy for her culinary aspirations. Arguably the most important connection she ever made was with her show more super-supportive and super-handy husband Paul: what a gorgeous partnership.
With its easygoing prose and the laissez-faire attitude of Child (except when she's writing her famed cooking bible - which was conceived by two other friends who seemed to have paled into the background after Child joined the project -, then she's an eagle-eyed dictator/businesswoman), this was very much a fairytale recount of her rise to culinary heights. And just like all the dishes described, the book itself was a delight and leaves one hungry for more.
I would love to read more about just Julia and Paul's marriage, and in particular about Paul's role. There's something about famous couplings where more often than not, one is famous for their work, and the other is famous for being the muse/support. It fascinates me, especially when it's a man who is in the muse/support role (looking at you Leonard Woolf). I also just want a photobook of Paul's works, the ones in this book were gorgeously composed. show less
I can't tell if Child truly was that open and optimistic or if she really had such a charmed life. Upper middle class upbringing, diplomatic posts around Europe, with all the networking that comes with it, making connections that would eventually come in handy for her culinary aspirations. Arguably the most important connection she ever made was with her show more super-supportive and super-handy husband Paul: what a gorgeous partnership.
With its easygoing prose and the laissez-faire attitude of Child (except when she's writing her famed cooking bible - which was conceived by two other friends who seemed to have paled into the background after Child joined the project -, then she's an eagle-eyed dictator/businesswoman), this was very much a fairytale recount of her rise to culinary heights. And just like all the dishes described, the book itself was a delight and leaves one hungry for more.
I would love to read more about just Julia and Paul's marriage, and in particular about Paul's role. There's something about famous couplings where more often than not, one is famous for their work, and the other is famous for being the muse/support. It fascinates me, especially when it's a man who is in the muse/support role (looking at you Leonard Woolf). I also just want a photobook of Paul's works, the ones in this book were gorgeously composed. show less
Heavenly inspiration! I want to be just like Julia Child, not for her cooking but for her enthusiasm for life. She doesn't know things and isn't afraid to ask (huge failing of mine), and when she sets about learning things she does so whole-heartedly. Not just with cooking - she didn't learn to cook a drop until she was 36!! - but in art and world affairs and foreign cultures. Truly, she seems to have said yes to living life, and I think she would have been the best of fun to know.
My show more favorite bit of advice: "I don't believe in twisting yourself into knots of excuses and explanations over the food you make. When one's hostess starts in with self-depreciations such as "Oh, I don't know how to cook...," or "Poor little me..," or "This may taste awful..." it is so dreadful to have to reassure her that everything is delicious and fine, whether it is or not. Besides, such admissions only draw attention to one's shortcomings (or self-perceived shortcomings), and make the other person think, "Yes, you're right, this really IS an awful meal!" Maybe the cat has fallen into the stew, or the lettuce has frozen, or the cake has collapsed - eh bien, tant pis!" (p. 77). show less
My show more favorite bit of advice: "I don't believe in twisting yourself into knots of excuses and explanations over the food you make. When one's hostess starts in with self-depreciations such as "Oh, I don't know how to cook...," or "Poor little me..," or "This may taste awful..." it is so dreadful to have to reassure her that everything is delicious and fine, whether it is or not. Besides, such admissions only draw attention to one's shortcomings (or self-perceived shortcomings), and make the other person think, "Yes, you're right, this really IS an awful meal!" Maybe the cat has fallen into the stew, or the lettuce has frozen, or the cake has collapsed - eh bien, tant pis!" (p. 77). show less
Written in Julia Child's quirky style- you can just hear her talking - the book is an interesting and lively account of her life from her marriage to Paul, her introduction and subsequent passion for French cooking, and how it became her life's work. Through the memoir we learn about her strong partnership with Paul, her friends and her travels as well as the details of the making of her now legendary "empire." as she is fixated on the procedures for cooking, so is she fixated on the minute show more details of events long past (how canshe possibly remember the ages of photographers and interviewers, and what does that add to the memoir?). Yet it is a love story - about Paul, food and France - and includes some fascinating pictures taken by Paul. show less
At the start of the book I loved Julia Childs' voice and joie de vivre and meticulous food passion. But after a couple hundred pages it got a little tiring, not to mention I felt like she did her co-cookbook authors kind of dirty in the end. But it still made me want to devour Mastering the Art of French Cooking, at least the recipes that didn't require me to hang a hunk of meat off my balcony for 3 days to get that perfect gamey taste.
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Statistics
- Works
- 43
- Also by
- 12
- Members
- 19,372
- Popularity
- #1,125
- Rating
- 4.2
- Reviews
- 304
- ISBNs
- 169
- Languages
- 14
- Favorited
- 26
