03/19/2022
Julia Child, the pioneering chef, author, and television personality famous for her wit, her height, and especially her culinary prowess, spent her early adulthood working overseas for the CIA's predecessor, the U.S. Office of Strategic Services, during WWII -- after being told she was too tall to enlist in the Women's Army Corps. Among her other top secret projects, Child was tasked with developing a shark repellent after too many underwater explosives targeting N**i U-boats were being set off by curious sharks. She experimented cooking up various concoctions to use as shark repellent; this marked her first foray into the world of cooking. For her service during the war, Child was awarded the "Emblem of Meritorious Civilian Service."
After WWII and following her 1946 marriage to fellow OSS employee Paul Child, the couple ended up living in Paris, France. While her husband worked for the U.S. State Department, Child enrolled at the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu cooking school. Although, even today, she remains the gold standard model for kitchen adventures, she did not learn to cook until she was in her thirties. Child once confided to her sister-in-law: “Really, the more I cook the more I like to cook. To think it has taken me 40 years to find my true passion (cat and husb. excepted).”
She became co-author of "Mastering the Art of French Cooking," the legendary volumes that introduced American audiences to French cuisine. "The French Chef" PBS television series followed, making Julia Child a household name and presence. Famous for her for lively and unconventional ways, Child, who died at the age of 91 in 2004, once offered the sage advice, "The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. In cooking you've got to have a what-the-hell attitude.”
To introduce your kids to this culinary pioneer, we highly recommend the new picture book "Born Hungry: Julia Child Becomes "the French Chef" for ages 5 to 9 (https://www.amightygirl.com/born-hungry) and the illustrated biography "Who Was Julia Child?" for ages 8 to 12 (https://www.amightygirl.com/who-was-julia-child)
For adult readers, we recommend the excellent biography "Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child" (https://www.amightygirl.com/dearie) and her memoir "My Life in France" (https://amzn.to/2Z67ioC)
For fictional stories about Mighty Girls who love to cook, check out "Uni Bakes a Cake" for ages 4 to 6 (https://www.amightygirl.com/uni-bakes-a-cake), "Nixie Ness, Cooking Star" for ages 7 to 9 (https://www.amightygirl.com/nixie-ness-cooking-star), "Measuring Up" for ages 8 to 12 (https://www.amightygirl.com/measuring-up), "All Four Stars" for ages 8 to 12 (https://www.amightygirl.com/all-four-stars), and "A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking" for ages 10 and up (https://www.amightygirl.com/wizard-guide-defensive-baking)
And, for a guide for tweens on the joys of cooking, we recommend the "A Smart Girl's Guide: Cooking" for ages 8 to 12 at https://www.amightygirl.com/a-smart-girl-s-guide-cooking
