If you follow entertainment news, you may have read that HBO Max today (May 4) announced a second season of "Julia," their series about the life and career of Julia Child.
But long before HBO, and longer still before the streaming technology that keeps us glued to devices and screens of all shapes and sizes - and even before WSBE Rhode Island PBS! - Julia Child first shared her unique brand of enthusiasm and cooking instruction on public television.
Yes, cooking legend Julia Child introduced French cuisine to American cooks in 1963 in her pioneering public television series, The French Chef, and her passion about food changed the way Americans cook and eat.
If you want to savor the original moments of rich culinary mastery (and mistakes) blended together into a fun and funny experience, watch the collection of episodes of The French Chef on Rhode Island PBS Passport right now.
To help you navigate your binge-worthy path, here are some original episodes that align with several episode titles from HBO Max:
Coq Au Vin (Alias Chicken Fricassee)
https://watch.ripbs.org/video/coq-au-vin-alias-chicken-fricassee-hrngdn/
Beef Bourguignon (Julia devoted at least two episodes to this dish)
https://watch.ripbs.org/video/pbs_thefrenchchef_beefinredwine_ep096mov-FnwVNZ/
https://watch.ripbs.org/video/beef-bourguignon-wkrrva/
Crepes Suzette (French Crepes 1)
https://watch.ripbs.org/video/french-crepes-i-k041qq/
Breads and Sweetbreads (How about Brioches instead of organ meats?)
https://watch.ripbs.org/video/brioches-72mkny/
The Backstory
In 1963, a charismatic woman with a passion for French cuisine and an inimitable voice stepped in front of the cameras at WGBH and introduced Americans to the art of French cooking. Almost two decades after her death on August 13, 2004 (2 days shy of her 92nd birthday), Julia Child continues to captivate the public's imagination.
She was born Julia McWilliams in Pasadena, California, on Aug. 15, 1912. She married her husband, Paul Child, in 1946. Paul joined the United States Information Agency and was assigned to the US Embassy in Paris in 1949.
While in Paris with her husband, Julia enrolled at le Cordon Bleu, where she attended French cooking classes. Along with two French friends, Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle, she co-wrote Mastering the Art of French Cooking, published in 1961, which aimed to make French cooking accessible to Americans. The three women also ran a cooking school in Paris, L’Ecole des Trois Gourmandes (the school of the three hearty eaters). That same year, the Childs returned to the US, settling in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
A Cooking - and TV - Star Emerges
It was on a 1961 promotional tour for Mastering the Art of French Cooking that Julia made her first contact with public television, as a guest on a book review show called I’ve Been Reading, produced by Boston's PBS station, WGBH. Julia arrived with a hot plate, giant whisk, and eggs and made an omelette on the set.
Dozens of viewers wrote to the station, wanting to see more. Writer/producer Russ Morash asked Julia to tape three pilot cooking shows, which she did in 1962. WGBH put The French Chef on the air on Feb. 11, 1963, and Julia Child became public television’s first and most enduring star.
Julia’s timing was perfect. More and more Americans were traveling abroad. The Kennedys were in the White House. The majority of middle class women had not yet joined the work force; the bored housewife syndrome had not yet been diagnosed as a national malaise. For women who admired Jackie Kennedy chic, Julia’s translation of French cuisine offered a way to acquire a taste of French sophistication. Soon a nation fed mindlessly on Shake n’ Bake, RediWhip and Tang began experimenting with quiche Lorraine, boeuf bourgignon, and reine de saba. Upwardly mobile Americans who regarded cooking as a waste of time, were suddenly seizing whisks, molds and copper bowls, transforming the kitchen into the most important room in the house and making cooking a national pastime.
Audiences fell in love with her wavering voice, fondness for wine and butter, eagerness to hack away with a knife, and customary closing phrase, "Bon appétit." The series broadcast a total of 199 programs, produced between 1963 and 1966, and ultimately ran for 10 years.
An Enduring Legacy
Julia's subsequent cooking shows for public television, which include Julia Child & Company, Julia Child & More Company, Dinner at Julia’s, and Julia Child Cooking with Master Chefs, have been aired and repeated without interruption ever since. In 1998, at age 85, she returned to demonstrating cooking basics in her own kitchen with her final series, Julia Child & Jacques Pépin: Cooking at Home. Also in our Rhode Island PBS Passport portfolio of programs is In Julia's Kitchen with Master Chefs.
PBS has also aired two programs about Julia: an American Masters biography and Julia Child Memories: Bon Appétit, a retrospective of some of the most memorable episodes of The French Chef. PBS Food also has a wealth of information about Julia and some of her recipes.
Television insiders credit Julia with giving birth to the "how-to" genre and carving a path for a cadre of successful TV chefs—and indeed, an entire cable channel devoted to cooking, and now an HBO series.
As you dig into the rich content behind the links, we say "bon appétit!"
