The Spy Who Cooked

Julia Child's Kitchen. Smithsonian Institute (Hooked on Houses).

Famous chef Julia Child stated once, "The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. In cooking, you've got to have a what-the-hell attitude" ("Julia Child Quotes"). In episodes of her vastly popular cooking show, The French Chef, that what-the-hell attitude comes through Julia's easy going nature and humbled personality. She puts the viewers at ease in the most intimidating art form ever -- Cooking. We make mistakes cooking, so does Julia Child in some of her episodes. This style of cooking on television was just the beginning. Look today at all the cooking shows on television, walking you through each step to the final Pièce de résistance: a meal worthy of a magazine photo spread.

Julia Child, The French Chef

What some viewers do not realize however, was that this affable and loving woman who cooked meals right along with housewives across America, had a former job as a spy for the Office of Strategic Services during World War II ("Julia Child Biography"). It is said that she was assigned different top-secret intelligence assignments in places such as Washington, D.C., China and Sri Lanka. Not bad for a young woman of 29 years to land such a high position! It was one of the assignments that Julia met her husband, Paul Child. They were married in 1946.

In 1948, the Childs moved to Paris where Paul Child worked in the Embassy. It was here that Julia, with a lot of time on her hands, began a love affair with the French cuisine. She was so impressed by the quality and excellence of French food, she wanted to learn herself how to cook it -- as a French chef. The only catch was that the recipes were in French; women in America could not cook these excellent dishes if they didn't know the language! So, with the aid of two other classmates from cooking school, Julia began to translate and collaborate on their own book of French to English recipe translations.

I think the most important thing to realize her is the time frame Julia Child was beginning her future career. This is the late 40s early 50s, when women were just beginning to be more recognized as something other than housewives and mothers. I believe that if this was any earlier in the 19th century or even early 20th century, the publishers may not have been quite as receptive to her goals. When you really grasp what Julia Child was doing here in Paris, it's not difficult to believe that she is so amazing. She was probably learning the language herself, yet that didn't stop her from translating a whole recipe book! It's really remarkable.

Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Etsy.

Back to the biography: At first, the manuscript for the cookbook was rejected; the 734 pages was too expensive to print for a book that might not sell (it is said that the manuscript weighed a whopping three pounds!). Eventually, another publisher took on the project, giving the world Mastering the Art of French Cooking ("Julia Child Biography"). "The book was considered groundbreaking, and remained the bestselling cookbook for five straight years after its publication. It has since become a standard guide for the culinary community."

Back in the U.S. the Childs returned to Cambridge, Massachusetts to settle down. Julia Child was asked to promote her book on a morning program and cooked an omelet on air. The response to her humor and cooking skills was tremendous; the station asked her back several times for $50 per show. Later in 1963, after such success on the morning program, Julia Child was given her own air-time, The French Chef. It is here that Julia made her mark on the world. Everyone who watched her loved her, wanted to be like her, wanted to cook like her. She gives life advice while basting a turkey, boning a duck or flipping an omelet. The show ran for ten years until 1973.

Apart from giving interviews and attending shows like Good Morning America occasionally, Child continued writing cookbooks. In 2001, Julia Child wanted to move back to her home state of California, leaving her famous kitchen set for her shows to the Smithsonian Institute ("Bon Appétit!"). "The exhibition features the actual kitchen, including the cabinets, appliances, cookbooks, kitchen table, and hundreds of utensils and gadgets. The exhibition gives visitors a peek into the working kitchen of one of the world’s best-known cooks, and explores how her influence as an author and host of several television series changed the way America cooks."

Julia Child died in 2004 of kidney failure, two days before her 92nd birthday ("Julia Child Biography"). Her spirit lives on however, for in 2009 Meryll Streep portrayed the pleasant and heart-warming woman in the movie Julie & Julia. The film documents a woman's determination to cook every recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking for a year. We follow her ups and down, just the thing that seems to keep her going is Child's humor itself on the shows. When the woman gets frustrated, there's something there in The French Chef that calms her and makes her try cooking again. I think this is the appeal Julia Child has on the world. That although there may be mistakes, you can't deem it a failure.

The Smithsonian does a fantastic job of keeping Julia Child's memory in the minds and hearts of the public. Not only can you visit her famous kitchen, but cooks and chefs can become involved virtually as well. The Smithsonian offers a blog, giving daily recipes and asking viewers to upload photos of their meals, talk about any difficulties they are having and communicate in general about Child's recipes and life. The blog's link is: http://blog.americanhistory.si.edu/osaycanyousee/recipe-of-the-week-julia-child/ ("Julia Child Recipe of the Week").

Julia Child in her Cambridge, MA kitchen.

She was a spy. She was a cook. She was a heroine for women in kitchens across America. She made cooking less intimidating. She made it okay to make a mistake. With the Smithsonian's preservation of her kitchen and famous actresses such as Meryll Streep portraying her, Julia Child will never be eclipsed from our memories.