Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard UniversityĤ. ![]() “Luckily, I had spent most of the war in male-dominated environments and wasn’t fazed by them in the least.” “When I walked into the classroom, the GIs made me feel as if I had invaded their boys’ club,” Julia writes about the class, taught by Chef Max Bugnard. She was learning alongside eleven former GIs who were studying under the GI Bill. She found the “housewife course” too elementary, so she enrolled in a more rigorous course for restaurateurs. At Le Cordon Bleu, Julia was the only woman in her cooking classes - but it didn’t faze her.īefore arriving in France, Julia hadn’t really cooked at all, so when she moved to Paris she enrolled in the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu cooking school, hoping to understand French culture. Next they ordered the sole meunière, which Julia called “a model of perfection,” had a fresh baguette, then had fromage blanc for dessert (yes - cheese for dessert.) “It was the most exciting meal of my life,” Julia says, now in love with French cooking.ģ. They ordered a half dozen oysters, which Julia found much more flavorful than those from Massachusetts: “This platter of portugaises has a sensational briny flavor and a smooth texture that was entirely new and surprising,” she said. Julia was shocked that wine was consumed at lunchtime (“I had never drunk much wine other than some $1.19 California Burgundy, and certainly not in the middle of the day”) and didn’t even know what a shallot was. When they first arrived in France and were making their way to Paris, Julia and Paul stopped at the famed Restaurant La Couronne in Rouen for their first official French meal. Julia’s first meal in France was oysters and sole meunière. When Paul later retired and Julia’s television career took off, he was right there supporting her, even helping with microphones while she was on her press tour, giving advice on camera angles for The French Chef, and taking photos for her cookbooks.Ģ. Julia supported Paul’s Foreign Service career as they moved to multiple countries in Europe, including France, Germany and Norway, and Paul actively supported her cooking career in France. One of the best parts of Julia's book is witnessing her and Paul’s marriage as a truly equal partnership. They were then sent to China, before marrying and settling in Washington, DC. She was stationed in Ceylon, modern-day Sri Lanka, where she met the artist Paul Child in 1944, who was also posted there to design war rooms. ![]() ![]() Julia and Paul Child had a wonderfully modern marriage.ĭuring World War II, Julia McWilliams worked for the Office of Strategic Services, which later became the CIA. Here are ten things I learned from reading Julia Child’s autobiography.ġ. My Life In France is the story of how “a six-foot-two-inch thirty-six-year-old, rather loud and unserious Californian” went to France and became one of the most celebrated chefs in history. It’s thrilling to witness someone discover their true life’s calling - and be incredibly successful doing it. Although it’s a story about food, to me it’s really a story about a woman finding her passion and pursuing it at a time when women weren’t encouraged to carve out independent professional lives for themselves. Reading this book during this particularly challenging year was like a fantasy: a throwback to a time when it was safe to travel, explore, and gather over food. These stories inspired me to dive into Julia’s Child’s autobiography, My Life In France, co-written by Alex Prud'homme, and learn more about the life of this pioneer. Even as the years have passed, her influence is deeply felt by almost every chef we talk to their eyes light up as they talk about the time they bumped into her at a holiday party, accidentally heard her iconic voice over the phone, or cooked oysters with her. There’s no question Julia Child is an icon (and of course, here at GBH, she’s our hometown hero.) Throughout my work producing our You & Julia digital series, I’ve heard countless Boston chefs gush about Julia and her incredible impact on our city.
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