Julia Child, Famous For...
Younger readers will probably know Julia Child from the 2009 film "Julie and Julia" which stared Meryl Streep. Julia Child is however very renowned in America for a very big reason. She managed to teach many generations of Americans how to really enjoy food and not just prepare it.
Julia Child majored in History in California in 1934, after which she moved to New York to work as a copywriter. The start of World War II presented an opportunity to Julia as it meant that she could enlist as a typist at the OSS in Washington but her experience helped her in progressing to a more prominent career as a secret research assistant for the head of the OSS. She later worked as an assistant to the shark repellent developers that is surely something not a lot if any chef personalities can claim to have done. She met her future husband in Ceylon and subsequently when her diplomat husband was transferred to Paris, Child was introduced to the world of exquisite cuisine.
When was Julia Child born?
Julia Child was born on the 15th August 1912.
How did Julia Child get into cooking?
Instead of just being a diplomat's wife Julia Child took the French love for food to heart and studied in the cooking school Le Cordon Bleu. She than had private lessons from the master chef Max Bugnard, during that time she befriended two French women Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle who were writing a cook book. In a bid to make the cook book suitable for American public the three joined their efforts. In 1951 the trio started a school of French cuisine for American women they called it The School of Three Gourmets (L'Ecole des Trois Gourmandes). Their critically acclaimed cook book "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" was published in 1961. Overall Julia Child had nearly twenty titles published as well as writing for magazines and newspapers. Child was 37 years old when she started to learn the art of cookery and 49 when she started to see success. Her first television show was in 1963 and was called The French Chef. After its debut on the Boston's television channel Child became a household name. Her slightly husky voice and joyous chatter enticed the viewers and the show was a hit. It is said that the main reason for her success was that she used simple American words in order to open the secrets of French cooking to the public.
In 1981 Julia Child founded The American Institute of Wine and Food, she truly had a passion for cooking and that was very visible through her books and television shows. In the 1990s she worked with many guest master chefs on her shows most prominently Jacques Pepin with whom she cooked on many occasions. She and Pepin wrote a book together "Julia Child and Jacques Pepin Cooking at Home", the book was a bestseller and a mini series was created from it. Julia Child died in 2004 but up to this day remains one the most loved chefs of America, her recipes are cherished, many of her equipments that she used on her shows are on display at National Museum of American History. All these makes her an American heroine of cooking, for someone who started of so late in life she achieved what most would not be able to even if they attempted to recreate her career path at much earlier age.
How to become the next Julia Child
You could start by doing something like Julie Powell did. She inspired the making of the film "Julie and Julia" by attempting to cook in one year all the recipes from Julia Child's book "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" - that's 524 recipes! Julie Powell blogged about her progress and gained quite an audience from doing so. She also published a best selling book "Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen" which documented her experience. Since then she's appeared on numerous TV shows and continues to write articles for newspapers and magazines.
Taking on the same challenge might not get you the exposure it did for Julie Powell but it would certainly give you a good intro to classical French cooking. Alternatively try finding another famous cooking tome and blog about that!
Study at Le Cordon Bleu
Various qualifications in a variety of disciplines are achievable through the network including degrees at Bachelor, Associate and Master levels (Australian campuses); also available are numerous certificates lasting around 3 months and diplomas with course lengths of around 10 months.
Le Cordon Bleu Short Courses
Short courses are also available lasting anything from 3 hours to 4 days. For example, at the Ottawa campus you can take a 3 hour course on "Cupcake Creations" which will last 3 hours and cost around 60 Canadian dollars. Alternatively you might like to try "Passport to Pastry I", a 4 day course costing 785 Canadian dollars. There are many more courses available covering a wide variety of disciplines.