Child Cooking on The French Chef for her Audience, 1970, Bettman
Expansion: Airing of The French Chef
Julia Child on Set of The French Chef, 1964, Ivan Masser
Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking was a smashing success, selling 1.5 million copies to date. On a publicity run, Child was featured on WGBH's I've Been Reading and prepared a French omelette. Response to the promo was overwhelmingly positive, inspiring WGBH to offer her a program. The French Chef aired in 1963 and ran for ten years.
“At that point, educational TV was talking heads, mostly, and they wanted a wider audience, so they had a science program, and they had our cooking program… We did 13 shows, we used all secondhand tape, we were just an experiment.”
~ Julia Child on the origins of The French Chef, Television Academy Foundation, Michael Rosen, 1999
Culinary Significance
The French Chef captivated audiences nationwide. Americans fell in love with Julia Child one recipe at a time, enchanted by her knack for making any viewer feel as though achieving french cuisine within the home was possible. Child's lilting voice and unpolished nature created an approachable atmosphere. Additionally, The French Chef marked two major milestones - the first program to include captioning for deaf audiences, and one of the first cooking shows hosted by a woman.
Julia Child Filming an Episode of The French Chef, April 16 1970, WGBH-TV.
The French Chef accomplished what Mastering the Art of French Cooking couldn't - a mentor to student connection. Recipes that may have appeared daunting on paper were charismatically presented in a way that dissolved any preconceived hesitancies. The French Chef expanded on the groundwork Mastering the Art of French Cooking laid regarding heightened accessibility of quality cuisine in the home.