Julia Child Still Inspires Americans to Cook

Oscar Award Winning Actress Meryl Streep Shines In New Movie

Aug 19, 2009

Julia Child pulled off the rare achievement when she went from being a government employee to hosting her own successful cooking television show.

August 15, 1912 in Pasadena, California, the chef who is often contributed with making cooking appealing to masses of every day Americans, was born. Her name was Julia McWilliams. The daughter of John and Julia McWilliams, Julia was one of three children. She and her two siblings were raised in economic comforts in an upscale neighborhood in Pasadena.

Julia Child’s Early Career

Upon graduating from high school, Julia moved to New York City and started work at W&J Sloan as a copywriter. It was while she was at her next job at the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) that Julia met the man she would share much of the remainder her life with.

Paul Child and Julia began a courtship in 1944 that cumulated in a blissful union on September 1, 1946. Julia was 34 years old; Paul was ten years her senior.

After several years of service to the United States government, the Child’s travels abroad, particularly to China, found Paul being investigated by the government due to Senator Joseph McCarthy’s unbridled communist suspicions.

After they left government employment, the Child’s began to pursue other passions. For Paul that included photography, artistic drawing and letter and poetry writing. He seemed to transition into other works with relative ease. Julia, on other hand, was another case.

Life after Government Work for Julia Child

She struggled to find something to fill her time with after she left government work. Her love for delicious food led her to enroll at France’s renowned Cordon Bleu cooking school. The only woman in the class and absent years of formal culinary training, Julia gave herself over to the task of graduating from the school. Cooking consumed much of her time, became her passion.

It took six months of culinary training for Julia to earn her diploma. Upon graduation, Julia Child focused on publishing a book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, that would teach Americans how to cook delicious French cuisines. Eight years passed before Julia and two co-writers completed the book that met with its fair share of rejection and setbacks.

Mastering the Art of French Cooking was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1961. A year later Julia Child appeared on television station WGBH’s The French Chef. The television program went on to be syndicated to 96 American television stations. The program’s success brought Julia Child into the homes of millions of Americans.

Julia Child’s Happy Home Life

As if keeping to her original intent for writing the cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Julia Child was teaching masses of Americans how to cook delicious French cuisine without spending all day doing so.

Julia Child and her husband, Paul, lived eventful lives. Paul passed away in 1994 at the age of 92. Julia Child passed away ten years later at the age of 91. Prior to her passing, the famous chef appeared on television’s Food Network channel with chef Emeril.

For the most part, the public remained ignorant of the couple’s happy marriage. It is through the brilliant work of Oscar Award winning actress, Meryl Streep, that Julia and Paul Child’s personal lives are revealed to the masses.

Meryl Streep Brings Chef Julia Child’s to Life Splendidly

Meryl Streep portrays the gregarious chef in Sony Pictures’ movie Julie & Julia. Streep does such a believable job portraying the successful chef with the unmistakable accent that at times it appears that Meryl Streep is Julia Child. In the role, Meryl Streep moves like Julia, talks and laughs like her, even resembles her.

Throughout the movie, a Long Island wife named Julie writes a blog that tracks the more than 500 recipes she must cook within a single year. Amy Adams portrays the Long Island Julie in Julie & Julia. Although the older cook and the up-and-coming chef never meet in person, Julie’s life is unmistakably changed due to Julia Child’s courage, rewarding union with Paul and culinary successes.

At times the interspersing of the two women’s separate lives slows down the pace of the movie. However, Meryl Streep’s portrayal of Julia Child’s outgoing personality and humorous antics keeps the movie moving forward. By the movie’s end it is clear that it is Julia Child’s courage and can do attitude that make Julie & Julia a viewer’s treat. It is hard to walk out of the movie lacking the conviction that with focus, passion and drive one’s loftiest dreams can be achieved.

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