Julia Child, the famed American cook, who recently had an HBO drama series created about her life in cooking is now featured in a documentary on CNN.
It seems the world cannot get enough of this fascinating individual who at the age of 50 started her show to help Americans learn how to appreciate food made at home.
For those of you who are not aware of Julia Child’s successes, she married late in life and moved to Paris with her husband, Paul Child. Not wanting to be a traditional 1950s housewife, meaning staying at home taking care of her husband. Julia decided to pursue her interests and one of them happened to be cooking. She enrolled in Cordon Bleu in Paris and was taught by some of the best.
Fast forward to her return to America, Julia had written a book with her dear friend Simone Beck and tried to get it published, after numerous failed attempts, editor Judith Jones of Knopf decided she wanted to take an interest in the unpublished work.
Mastering the Art of French Cooking was born and is still in publication today. This cookbook was a must of the 1960s and 1970s, most homes in America had it or if not, households tuned into Julia Child’s TV on PBS, The French Chef.
What is truly intriguing about Julia, the documentary, is that it shows a side of Julia Child that many people were not aware of. The individual who desperately wanted children, but couldn’t, and instead of letting it get her down she then chased her dreams and one of them was to follow her love of all things food.
Learning how Julia got the idea for her cooking show is something that only Julia Child could have conceived. After being invited on a TV talk show to talk about her cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Julia instead of talking about the book decided to cook an omelet for the host instead. This led to Julia approaching PBS and asking if she could develop and present several cooking shows for the network and the rest are history.
Julia Child’s fame started after the airing of this series and the further development of additional books.
But what is a nice surprise about the documentary is that it highlights that Julia Child was a passionate feminist, before it was such a thing. She was a devoted advocate for Planned Parenthood and surprising was she was compassionate and supportive of the gay community during the AIDS pandemic and even went so far as to fundraise for all these causes that were close to her heart, keep in mind she was pushing mid-’80s at this time.
Julia Child was a pioneer for women in the kitchen, a champion of developing a name for herself when most people were considering retiring, and never slowed down right until the end as her passion in life was food and understanding the entire process of it all, from soup to nuts!
Julia on CNN is a truly fascinating documentary for anyone intrigued by the likes of Julia Child or who has a passion for everything food.
