Editing Julia Child (section)

==Career==
=== Second World War ===
Child joined the [[Office of Strategic Services]] (OSS) in 1942<ref name="history"/><ref name="museum">[https://web.archive.org/web/20210711200742/https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/julia-child-shark-repellant-world-war-ii "Julia Child Helped Develop Shark Repellant During World War II"]. ''[[The National WWII Museum]]'' via [[Internet Archive]]. Retrieved June 3, 2021.</ref> after finding that at {{convert|6|ft|2|in|m}} tall,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.cia.gov/stories/story/julia-child-cooking-up-spy-ops-for-oss/ | title=Julia Child: Cooking up Spy Ops for OSS - CIA }}</ref> she was too tall to enlist in the [[Women's Army Corps|Women's Army Corps (WACs)]] or in the [[United States Navy|U.S. Navy's]] [[WAVES]].<ref name="wacs">{{cite book |last=Child |first=Julia |author2=Prud'homme, Alex |title=My Life in France |publisher=Random House |year=2006 |page=85 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8cKLQO4bgDQC&pg=PA85 |isbn=978-0-307-27769-5}}</ref> She began her OSS career as a [[copy typist|typist]] at its headquarters in [[Washington, D.C.]], but, because of her education and experience, soon was given a position as a [[top-secret]] researcher working directly for the head of OSS, General [[William J. Donovan]].<ref name="abc">{{cite web |title=Julia Child Dished Out ... Spy Secrets? |url=https://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=5579095 |website=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] |date=August 14, 2008 |access-date=February 16, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Jones |first=Abigail |url=http://www.newsweek.com/2016/09/30/cia-women-national-security-500312.html |title=Women of the CIA: The Hidden History of American Spycraft |magazine=[[Newsweek]] |date=September 21, 2016 |access-date=September 22, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{citation |last=Patrick |first=Jeanette |title=The Recipe for Adventure: Chef Julia Child's World War II Service |website=[[National Women's History Museum]] |date=November 8, 2017 |url=https://www.womenshistory.org/articles/recipe-adventure}}</ref>

As a research assistant in the Secret Intelligence division, Child typed over 10,000 names on white note cards to keep track of officers. For a year, she worked at the OSS Emergency Sea Rescue Equipment Section (ESRES) in Washington, D.C. as a file clerk and then as an assistant to developers of a [[shark repellent]] needed to ensure that [[sharks]] would not explode [[Weapon|ordnance]] targeting German [[U-boat]]s.<ref name="history"/><ref name="museum"/> When Child was asked to solve the problem of too many OSS underwater explosives being set off by curious sharks, "Child's solution was to experiment with cooking various concoctions as a [[shark repellent]]," which were sprinkled in the water near the explosives and repelled sharks.<ref name=volkman>{{cite book |last1=Volkman |first1=Ernest |title=The History of Espionage: The Clandestine World of Surveillance, Spying and Intelligence, from Ancient Times to the Post-9/11 World |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofespiona0000volk/page/160/mode/2up?q=shark+ |page=163 |year=2007 |publisher=Carlton |location=London |isbn=978-1-8444-2434-4}}</ref> Still in use today, the experimental shark repellent "marked Child's first foray into the world of cooking."<ref>{{cite web |title=Julia Child and the OSS Recipe for Shark Repellent |url=https://www.cia.gov/stories/story/julia-child-and-the-oss-recipe-for-shark-repellent/ |access-date=2021-10-09 |website=CIA}}</ref>

During 1944–1945, Child was posted to [[Kandy]], Ceylon (now [[Sri Lanka]]), where her responsibilities included "registering, cataloging and channeling a great volume of highly classified communications" for the OSS's clandestine stations in Asia.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-archives15-2008aug15,0,1415513.story |title=Files from WWII Office of Strategic Services are secret no more|last=Miller|first=Greg|date=August 15, 2008|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]}}</ref><ref name="cia">{{cite web|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170307163049/https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/2007-featured-story-archive/julia-child.html |title =A Look Back ... Julia Child: Life Before French Cuisine|website=[[Central Intelligence Agency]]|date = 20 June 2008|url = https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/2007-featured-story-archive/julia-child.html|archive-date= 7 March 2017}}</ref> She was later posted to [[Kunming]], [[China]], where she received the [[Meritorious Civilian Service Award|Emblem of Meritorious Civilian Service]] as head of the Registry of the OSS Secretariat.<ref name="history"/><ref name="cia"/>

For her service, Child received an award that cited her many virtues, including her "drive and inherent cheerfulness".<ref name="abc"/> As with other OSS records, her file was declassified in 2008. Unlike other files, Child's complete file is available online.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://media.nara.gov/oss/McWilliams_Child_Julia.pdf |title=Julia McWilliams |website=[[National Archives and Records Administration]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927143746/http://media.nara.gov/oss/McWilliams_Child_Julia.pdf |archive-date=September 27, 2011 }} [https://research.archives.gov/description/2180661 ARC Identifier 2180661] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201211227/http://research.archives.gov/description/2180661 |date=February 1, 2014 }}, [https://www.archives.gov/research/arc/topics/oss-personnel/ Office of Strategic Services Personnel Files from World War II]</ref>

While she was in Kandy, she met [[Paul Cushing Child]], who was also an OSS employee. The two later married on September 1, 1946, in [[Lumberville, Pennsylvania]],<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.practicallyedible.com/edible.nsf/pages/juliachild |work=CooksInfo.com |title=Julia Child |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120325002745/http://www.practicallyedible.com/edible.nsf/pages/juliachild |archive-date=March 25, 2012}}</ref> later moving to Washington, D.C.. Paul, a [[New Jersey]] native<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/05/14/obituaries/paul-child-artist-dies-at-92.html |title=Paul Child, Artist, Dies |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |first=Wolfgang |last=Saxon |date=May 14, 1994 |access-date=May 24, 2013}}</ref> who had lived in [[Paris]] as an artist and poet, was known for his sophisticated palate<ref>{{cite news |title=Julia Child: bon appétit: Celebrated cook taught America to relish life's bounty |first=Sylvia |last=Lindman |url=https://www.today.com/popculture/julia-child-bon-appetit-nwbna3694953 |website=[[Today (American TV program)|Today]] |date=August 13, 2004 |access-date=September 30, 2006}}</ref> and had introduced his wife to fine cuisine. He joined the [[United States Foreign Service]], and, in 1948, the couple moved to Paris after the [[United States Department of State|State Department]] assigned Paul there as an exhibits officer with the [[United States Information Agency]].<ref name="cia"/> The couple had no children.

===Post-war France===
Child repeatedly recalled her first meal at [[La Couronne (restaurant)|La Couronne]] in [[Rouen]] as a culinary revelation. Once, she had described the meal of [[oyster]]s, [[sole meunière]], and fine wine to ''[[The New York Times]]'' as "an opening up of the soul and spirit for me." In 1951, she graduated from the famous [[Le Cordon Bleu|Cordon Bleu]] cooking school in Paris and later studied privately with Max Bugnard and other master chefs.<ref>{{cite news |journal=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/11/arts/11iht-bookwed.html |title=Books: My Life in France |first=William |last=Grimes |date=April 11, 2006 |access-date=May 24, 2013}}</ref> She joined the women's cooking club ''[[Le Cercle des Gourmettes]]'', through which she met [[Simone Beck]], who was writing a French cookbook for Americans with her friend [[Louisette Bertholle]]. Beck proposed that Child work with them to make the book appeal to Americans. In 1951, Child, Beck, and Bertholle began to teach cooking to American women in Child's Paris kitchen, calling their informal school ''[[École des trois gourmandes|L'école des trois gourmandes]]'' (The School of the Three Food Lovers). For the next decade, as the Childs moved around Europe and finally to [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]], the three researched and repeatedly tested recipes. Child translated the [[French language|French]] into [[English language|English]], making the recipes detailed, interesting, and practical.

In 1963, the Childs built a home near the [[Provence]] town of [[Plascassier]] in the hills above [[Cannes]] on property belonging to co-author Beck and her husband, Jean Fischbacher. The Childs named it "[[La Pitchoune|La&nbsp;Pitchoune]]", a [[Provençal dialect|Provençal]] word meaning "the little one" but over time the property was often affectionately referred to simply as "La Peetch".<ref name="MLIF">{{cite book |last=Child |first=Julia |author2=Prud'homme, Alex |title=My Life in France |publisher=Random House |year=2006 |pages=268–272 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8cKLQO4bgDQC&pg=PA85 |isbn=978-0-307-27769-5}}</ref>

In his [[New York Times]] best-selling book, ''Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child'', author [[Bob Spitz]] stated that Child was diagnosed with [[breast cancer]] in the mid-60s. She had a [[mastectomy]] on February 28, 1968.<ref>{{cite news| last=Kingston| first=Anne| date=August 15, 2012| title=Julia Child at 100| url=https://www.macleans.ca/society/life/julia-child-at-100/| magazine=[[Maclean's]]| access-date=April 11, 2022}}</ref>

===Media career===
{{external media
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 | video1=[http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_D064C8C45DA84E9FB41E959380C487C6 French Chef; Lasagne a la Francaise], November 25, 1970, 28:37, [[WGBH Educational Foundation|WGBH Open Vault]]<ref name="WGBHOV">
{{cite web
 |title=French Chef; Lasagne a la Francaise
 |work=The Julia Child Project
 |publisher=[[WGBH Educational Foundation]]
 |date=November 25, 1970
 |url=http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_D064C8C45DA84E9FB41E959380C487C6
 |access-date=September 15, 2016}}
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 | audio1= [https://www.npr.org/2011/09/01/139793130/julia-child-on-france-fat-and-food-on-the-floor Julia Child On France, Fat And Food On The Floor], November 14, 1989, 10:13, [[Fresh Air]] with [[Terry Gross]]<ref name="Fresh Air"/>

 | image1= [https://www.gettyimages.com/photos/julia-child-lee-Lockwood Julia Child]  (Photos by [[Lee Lockwood]], [[Getty Images]] )

}}

The three would-be authors initially signed a contract with publisher [[Houghton Mifflin]], which later rejected the manuscript for seeming too much like an encyclopedia. When it was finally published in 1961 by [[Alfred A. Knopf]], the 726-page ''[[Mastering the Art of French Cooking]]''<ref name="PM">{{cite web| url=http://www.popmatters.com/pm/post/161490-bless-this-mess-sweeping-the-kitchen-with-julia-child/| title=Bless This Mess: Sweeping the Kitchen with Julia Child| website=[[PopMatters]]| date=August 13, 2012| first=J.C.| last=Maçek III}}</ref> was a best-seller and received critical acclaim that derived in part from the American interest in French culture in the early 1960s. Lauded for its helpful illustrations and precise attention to detail, and for making fine cuisine accessible, the book is still in print and is considered a seminal culinary work. Following this success, Child wrote magazine articles and a regular column for ''[[The Boston Globe]]'' newspaper. She would go on to publish nearly twenty titles under her name and with others. Many, though not all, were related to her television shows. Her last book was the autobiographical ''[[My Life in France]]'', published posthumously in 2006 and written with her grandnephew, [[Alex Prud'homme]]. The book recounts Child's life with her husband, [[Paul Cushing Child]], in [[Aftermath of World War II#France|postwar]] France.

===''The French Chef'' and related books===
{{main|The French Chef}}

A 1961 appearance on a book review show on what was then the [[National Educational Television]] (NET) station of Boston, [[WGBH-TV]] (now a major [[PBS|Public Broadcasting Service]] station),<ref>"Boston PBS Station WGBH a Little Giant," ''(Northampton, Massachusetts) Hampshire Gazette'', March 3, 1980, p. 11.</ref>  led to the inception of her first television cooking show after viewers enjoyed her demonstration of how to cook an omelette. ''[[The French Chef]]'' debuted as a summer pilot series, on July 26, 1962.<ref>"Today on TV," ''Boston Globe'', July 26, 1962, p. 16.</ref> This led to the program becoming a regular series, beginning on February 11, 1963,<ref>"Today on TV," ''Boston Globe'', February 11, 1963, p. 22.</ref> on [[WGBH-TV|WGBH]], where it was immediately successful. The show ran nationally for ten years and won [[Peabody Award|Peabody]] and [[Emmy Award|Emmy]] Awards, including the first Emmy award for an educational program. Though she was not the first television cook, Child was the most widely seen.{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}} She attracted the broadest audience with her cheery enthusiasm, distinctively warbly voice, and unpatronizing, unaffected manner. In 1972, ''The French Chef'' became the first television program to be [[close captioning#Terminology|captioned]] for the [[deaf]], even though this was done using the preliminary technology of open-captioning.

Child's second book, ''The French Chef Cookbook,'' was a collection of the [[recipes]] she had demonstrated on the show. It was soon followed in 1970 by ''Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume Two,'' again in collaboration with Simone Beck, but not with Louisette Bertholle, with whom the professional relationship had ended. Child's fourth book, ''From Julia Child's Kitchen,'' was illustrated with her husband's photographs and documented the color series of ''The French Chef,'' as well as provided an extensive library of kitchen notes compiled by Child during the course of the show.<ref>{{cite book| title=From Julia Child's kitchen| last=Julia| first=Child| others=Child, Paul, 1902–1994, Walton, Albie| year=1981| isbn=978-0-1404-6371-2| location=Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England| oclc=877067411}}</ref>

=== Impact on American households ===
Child had a large impact on American households and [[housewives]]. Because of the technology in the 1960s, the show was unedited, causing her blunders to appear in the final version and ultimately lend "authenticity and approachability to television."<ref>Toby Miller. "Screening Food: French Cuisine and the Television Palate." In French Food: On the Table, On the Page, and in French Culture. P. 224</ref> According to Toby Miller in "Screening Food: French Cuisine and the Television Palate," one mother he spoke to said that sometimes "all that stood between me and insanity was hearty Julia Child" because of Child's ability to soothe and transport her. In addition, Miller notes that Child's show began before the [[feminist movement]] of the 1960s, which meant that the issues housewives and women faced were somewhat ignored on television.<ref>{{cite book| first=Toby| last=Miller| title=Screening Food: French Cuisine and the Television Palate| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vYCkwExuonQC&q=toby+miller| work=In French Food: On the Table, On the Page, and in French Culture| date=May 13, 2013| page=226| publisher=Routledge| isbn=978-1-1353-4711-6}}</ref>

===Later career===
[[File:Julie child kitchen.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|[[Julia Child's kitchen]] at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History]]

In the 1970s and 1980s, she was the star of numerous television programs, including ''Julia Child & Company'', ''Julia Child & More Company'', and ''Dinner at Julia's''. For the 1979 book ''Julia Child and More Company'', she won a [[National Book Award]] in [[List of winners of the National Book Award#Current|category Current Interest]].<ref name=nba1980>
[https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-1980 "National Book Awards&nbsp;– 1980"]. [[National Book Foundation]]. Retrieved 2012-03-09. <br />There was a "Contemporary" or "Current" award category from 1972 to 1980.</ref> In 1980, Child started appearing regularly on [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]'s ''[[Good Morning America]]''.<ref>{{citation |title=The Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts |date=May 8, 2022 |url=https://juliachildfoundation.org/1980-2/ |access-date=May 31, 2022 |archive-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630125303/https://juliachildfoundation.org/1980-2/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 1981, she founded the [[American Institute of Wine & Food]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aiwf.org/site/who-we-are.html |title=American Institute of Wine and Food |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100222200422/http://www.aiwf.org/site/who-we-are.html |archive-date=February 22, 2010}}</ref> with vintners [[Robert Mondavi]] and [[Richard Graff]], and others, to "advance the understanding, appreciation and quality of wine and food," a pursuit she had already begun with her books and television appearances. In 1989, she published what she considered her magnum opus, a book and instructional video series collectively entitled ''[[The Way To Cook]]''.

During the [[HIV/AIDS in the United States|AIDS crisis]] of the 1980s, Child went from holding [[homophobic]] views to being a passionate AIDS activist, triggered by a close associate succumbing to AIDS.<ref>{{cite news| title=Dining on Arena Floor for AIDS Benefit| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/26/us/dining-on-arena-floor-for-aids-benefit.html| first=Marian| last=Burros| author-link=Marian Burros| date=September 26, 1988| newspaper=The New York Times| department=B| page=4| quote=But the chefs and dinner committee co-chairmen were the heroes of the day and were introduced at the end of the meal by Julia Child, the woman who made cooking fashionable in America. ''It's a wonderful gaggle of chefs,'' said Mrs. Child as the audience cheered and chanted ''Julia, Julia, Julia.''| access-date=November 4, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| title=Just a Pinch of Prejudice| url=https://www.bostonmagazine.com/2007/04/02/just-a-pinch-of-prejudice| first=Laura| last=Shapiro| author-link=Laura Shapiro| date=April 2, 2007| magazine=[[Boston (magazine)|Boston]]| quote=...she found homosexuality outlandish—not immoral, and certainly not to be criminalized, but a rude disruption in the natural order of things.| access-date=November 4, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| title=Nora Ephron: Stirring the Pot| url=https://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/film/2009/08/07/stirring-pot#article-content| first=Brandon| last=Voss| author-link=Brandon Voss| date=August 7, 2009| magazine=[[The Advocate (LGBT magazine)|The Advocate]]| quote=I believe that Julia Child was homophobic out of ignorance, but she became very good friends with lots of the gay men in the food business and forgave them all for being in the food business.| access-date=November 4, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| title='Julia' Review: Glossy, Surface-Level Julia Child Documentary Sticks to a Familiar Recipe| url=https://variety.com/2021/film/reviews/julia-review-julia-child-1235055307| first=Guy| last=Lodge| date=September 3, 2021| magazine= [[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]| quote=It's mentioned, too, that she held homophobic beliefs prior to becoming an AIDS activist in the 1980s, before the subject is swiftly dropped in favor of further generic "food is love" appraisals from her acolytes.| access-date=November 4, 2021}}</ref>

In the mid-1990s, as part of her work with the American Institute of Wine and Food, Child became increasingly concerned about children's food education.

She starred in four more series in the 1990s that featured guest chefs: ''Cooking with Master Chefs'', ''In Julia's Kitchen with Master Chefs'', ''[[Baking with Julia]]'', and ''[[Julia & Jacques Cooking at Home]]''. She collaborated with [[Jacques Pépin]] many times for television programs and cookbooks. All of Child's books during this time stemmed from the television series of the same names.

Child's use of ingredients like butter and cream has been questioned by food critics and modern-day nutritionists. She addressed these criticisms throughout her career, predicting that a "fanatical fear of food" would take over the country's dining habits, and that focusing too much on nutrition takes the pleasure from enjoying food.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/11/garden/savoring-the-world-according-to-julia.html| newspaper=The New York Times| title=Savoring the World According to Julia| first=Molly| last=O'Neill| date=October 11, 1989| url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/24/business/24julia.html| newspaper=The New York Times| title=After 48 Years, Julia Child Has a Big Best Seller, Butter and All| first=Stephanie| last=Clifford| date=August 23, 2009| url-access=subscription}}</ref> In a 1990 interview, Child said, "Everybody is overreacting. If fear of food continues, it will be the death of [[gastronomy]] in the United States. Fortunately, the French don't suffer from the same hysteria we do. We should enjoy food and have fun. It is one of the simplest and nicest pleasures in life."<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/06/20/garden/julia-child-boiling-answers-her-critics.html| newspaper=The New York Times| title=Julia Child Boiling, Answers Her Critics| first=Carol| last=Lawson| date=June 19, 1990| url-access=subscription}}</ref>

[[Julia Child's kitchen]], designed by her husband, was the setting for three of her television shows. It is now on display at the [[National Museum of American History]] in Washington, D.C. Beginning with ''In Julia's Kitchen with Master Chefs,'' the Childs' home kitchen in Cambridge was fully transformed into a functional set, with TV-quality lighting, three cameras positioned to catch all angles in the room, and a massive center island with a gas stovetop on one side and an electric stovetop on the other, but leaving the rest of the Childs' appliances alone, including "my wall oven with its squeaking door."<ref>{{cite book |title=In Julia's Kitchen with Master Chefs |last1=Child |first1=Julia |last2=Barr |first2=Nancy Verde |year=1995 |publisher=Knopf |isbn=978-0-6794-3896-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/injuliaskitchenw0000chil/page/n15/mode/2up?q=squeaking+door |page=17 |chapter=Acknowledgments}}</ref> This kitchen backdrop hosted nearly all of Child's 1990s television series.