Julia Child's Childhood Home in Pasadena, California, August 15, 2016, Colorado Boulevard.net
Early Life
"And we had very sensible, New England-type food because my mother came from New England - you know, roasts and vegetables and fresh peas and mashed potatoes. But nobody discussed food a great deal because it just wasn't done, and there was no wine served at the table, at least not in my family, who were very conservative. We always ate very well, but it wasn't talked about."
~ Julia Child on cuisine duringg her childhood, NPR, 1989
Julia McWilliams was born in Pasadena, California on August 15th in 1912 and lived to be 91 by the time of her death in 2004. Family life was fairly easy for Child, as her father worked in real estate, and her mother a paper company heiress.
Once 18, Child applied to college with the initial intention of becoming a writer.
"They laughed when I sat down at the typewriter. And they were right, too, because nothing much ever came of the plan. I wrote for the Smith College Tatler, and after I graduated I went home for a while, and then I went to New York and tried to get a job with The New Yorker, but they turned me down." ~ Julia Child in interview with The New Yorker by Calvin Tomkins, 1974
Adulthood
Child and a Friend on a Rooftop in France, 1950, The New Yorker, Paul Child
McWilliams later took a job as a research assistant at the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in Sri Lanka upon learning she was unfit for the military - where she began dating her future husband Paul Child. Following Paul’s position reassignment, Child accompanied him to France where her passion for french cuisine blossomed.
Julia and Paul Child on their Wedding Day, September 1 1946, Schlesinger Library Radcliffe Institute Harvard University
Paul and Julia Child, 1977, Smithsonian Institution; gift of the Estate of Hans Namuth, National Portrait Gallery
Introduction to French Cuisine
Julia Child at Le Cordon Bleu Cooking Academy in Paris with her teacher, her diploma, and fellow chefs, 1951, Le Cordon Bleu
Child enrolled in the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu cooking academy in pursuit of this newfound passion. Subsequent to her graduation, Child founded her own cooking academy - L’Ecole de Trois Gourmandes, "The School of Three Hearty Eaters" - in cooperation with friends Louisette Bertholle and Simone Beck.
Left to right: Simone Beck, Julia Child, and Louisette Bertholle Instructing how to Cook a Fish at L'Ecole de Trois Gourmandes, Early 1950's, Schlesinger Library Radcliffe Institute Harvard University
"What a Good Cook Should Know," list from L'Ecole de Trois Gourmandes, 1952, Schlesinger Library Radcliffe Institute Harvard University