August 15, 2017
Introduction: In this article, Gena Philibert-Ortega celebrates the 105th anniversary of Julia Child’s birth by searching old newspapers to learn more about this cook and author’s life and career. Gena is a genealogist and author of the book “From the Family Kitchen.”
Born on 15 August 1912 in Pasadena, California, to John McWilliams Jr. and Julia Carolyn Weston, Julia Child’s name is synonymous with French cooking in America.
But her life wasn’t always about food. For three decades, she showed no interest in food or cooking while she kept herself busy with other pursuits – including her World War II work in Ceylon and China for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS).
Julia Child’s destiny was sealed after eating a meal of “oysters portugaises on the half-shell, sole meunière browned in Normandy butter, a salad with baguettes, and cheese and coffee for dessert” in her beloved France.*
Her quest to learn how to recreate the exquisite food she dined on in France led her to enroll in the famous Cordon Bleu cooking school, and then authoring cookbooks, hosting televised cooking shows, and educating home cooks on how to master French cooking.
As we celebrate Julia Child’s 105th birthday, here are three facts about her remarkable life, as discovered by searching the pages of GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives.
1) She Made Americans Think Differently about Food
One of Julia Child’s most important accomplishments was sharing her passion for cooking, and teaching the American home cook how to prepare new and exciting recipes. For many Americans, including Julia’s childhood family, the variety in what a family ate was limited and many dinners consisted of frozen or canned vegetables.
Julia’s life in France awakened her senses to what food could be, and she made it a mission to share that knowledge with others. Through her cookbooks and cooking shows, she was able to bring to light French recipes previously either unknown or thought to be too difficult for the home cook. In our present world, where innumerable recipes developed by celebrity chefs are freely available with a few computer keystrokes, it may be difficult to imagine a time when food was more or less the same throughout the United States.
Many Americans at that time didn’t have the experience or opportunity to try various herbs, produce, and foods from other countries. A good example of this is a presentation Julia gave at the 1964 Newspaper Food Editors Conference in New York. It’s probably no surprise that her comments would center on fish since the meeting was hosted by the National Fisheries Institute, the Halibut Association of North America, and the Shrimp Association of the Americas.
During her presentation, Julia made the point that for too long, the cooking of fish had been limited to “…fried fish, broiled fish, and fish cakes, with a bit of lobster newburg thrown in.” But she compared this with the French bouillabaisse which is made with “…onions or leeks cooked in oil, then tomatoes, garlic, saffron and any type of lean fish…” She knew that fish could be made so much more delicious if it was approached with new techniques and recipes.
2) Two Nations Honored Her with Their Highest Honors
No stranger to honors and awards including several Emmys, Julia Child was considered a national treasure in both the United States and in France. In 2003, U.S. President George Bush awarded Julia Child with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He remarked that:
“Before Julia Child came along, no one imagined it could be so interesting to watch a meal being prepared. The reason, of course, is Julia, herself – her friendly way, her engaging conversation and her eagerness to teach. American cuisine and American culture have been enriched for decades by the unmistakable voice and the presence of Julia Child.”**
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award presented by the President of the United States.
It is quite an honor to be recognized by one’s country, but Julia was also recognized by her adopted country, France, and prior to receiving the highest U.S. award, she was bestowed with the French Legion of Honor three years earlier. Created by Napoleon in 1802, the Legion d’Honneur honors outstanding military and civil service to France. Julia Child was the first U.S. chef to be honored with the award. Child said of receiving the award: “I am very, very proud. I adore France.”***
3) She Wrote Cookbooks and Continues to Inspire Authors Today
It all started with the 1961 publication of volume 1 of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, the French cook book for Americans that put Julia Child front and center in the American consciousness.
She would pen other cookbooks over the course of 45 years, including a second volume of Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Her last book was the posthumously published My Life in France, authored with Alex Prud’homme, the grand-nephew of her husband Paul Child.
Five years after she passed away in 2004, and 48 years after it was originally published, Mastering the Art of French Cooking experienced a resurgence and became a bestseller due to the popular movie Julie and Julia, which chronicles a young woman and her quest to cook every recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking and record her results on her blog. (The movie was an adaptation of the similarly-titled book by Julie Powell and Julia Child’s book My Life in France.) On 31 August 2009, Mastering the Art of French Cooking debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list in the category “Advice & How-To.”****
Julie & Julia is just one of many books written about Julia Child. Dozens of books chronicle Julia Child’s life as a cook, and even her time before food was her passion, including her work with the OSS. It would seem that Julia Child is even more popular today than ever before.
Her Legacy
Julia Child died on 13 August 2004 at the age of 91 in Montecito, California. One newspaper obituary noted that she was surrounded by “cookbooks and many paintings by her husband Paul…”
Her legacy can be seen in the public’s appetite for cookbooks, food writing, cooking shows, and celebrity chefs. I think one of the most important legacies Julia Child left us is the power of following and sharing what you are passionate about, no matter what your age.
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* “15 Delicious Facts about Julia Child,” Mental Floss (http://mentalfloss.com/article/84256/15-delicious-facts-about-julia-child: accessed 9 August 2017).
** “President Honors 2003 Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipients,” The White House. President George W. Bush. (https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2003/07/20030723-9.html: accessed 8 August 2017).
*** “Legion D’Honneur for Julia Child for Popularizing French Cuisine,” The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/20/us/legion-d-honneur-for-julia-child-for-popularizing-french-cuisine.html: accessed 8 August 2017).
**** “After 48 Years, Julia Child Has a Big Best Seller, Butter and All,” The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/24/business/24julia.html: accessed 9 August 2017).
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