It’s Julia Child’s 100th Birthday!

By Rachel Belle

Listen to It’s Julia Child’s 100th Birthday!

The woman who taught America to cook French food, the woman with that unmistakable warbly voice would have celebrated her 100th birthday Wednesday. With a passion for food and a silly sense of humor, Julia Child is a cooking icon with a remarkable life and irresistible personality. I am not a person who collects heroes, but Julia Child is mine. I’m not sure what it is about her, but I absolutely love her and part of me wants to be her.

“You know, everybody felt that way about her. When I met her, in Italy, we walked into a restaurant. Any Americans who were there, everybody’s heads turned and this is what you heard, not, ‘Oh, it’s Julia Child.’ [They said] ‘It’s Julia! Oh my, it’s Julia!” People would run over to her. She was beloved.”

That’s Bob Spitz, author of the new book Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child. One of the most unique things about Julia is how old she was when she found her true calling.

“She didn’t learn how to cook until she was 40. I mean, she couldn’t even boil water. She was never on TV until she was 50. What I think is so remarkable about Julia, is that she really reinvented herself at the age 50 to become this star.

Before she cooked, she worked for the government and rumor has it, she was a spy.

“It’s really funny, Julia is always accused of being a spy or not being a spy. She went to Ceylon to work for the war effort in World War II. Basically, she knew the placement of every American spy in southeast Asia. She had given them their code names and she knew all their movements. So was Julia a spy? I don’t think you could say she was a spy, but she was sure in the spy business.”

Julia met her husband Paul during the war and they had a famously beautiful relationship.

“It wasn’t quite love at first sight. He really felt that she wasn’t that sophisticated but she had these gorgeous, lovely legs that fascinated him and he loved her sense of humor. It was a symbiotic relationship that was so strong and so romantic. They had a robust sex life all their lives. Julia loved talking about it. It was a wonderful relationship.”

At the age of 50 Julia arrived on TV with The French Chef, which was the first ever syndicated show on public television.

“It was a sensation. She was the first PBS star. She was before Sesame Street, before Mister Rogers. She became a star just by being herself.”

As a star, Julia was famously emulated by Dan Aykroyd on Saturday Night Live and in 2005 a woman named Julie Powell wrote a memoir titled Julie and Julia, where she cooked everything in Julia’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. In 2009 it was made into a movie, bringing Julia back to life through Meryl Streep. So what is it about this woman that captivates us?

“It’s her honesty and her authenticity and she has a way of explaining things as if you were talking to your aunt. Julia did not want women to feel like they were drudges. She wanted them to feel independent and creative.”

Click here for a list of restaurants serving special Julia Child’s menus right now.

Luc & Rovers will be extending it’s Julia Child tasting menus, another couple weeks, since they have been so popular. Bastille is serving a special menu tonight, along with RN74 and Assaggio.