JULIA CHILD: REDEFINING GENDER ROLES ONE BOEUF BOURGUIGNON AT A TIME “The French don't like anyone telling them how to make *their* food. Plus, she was a cookbook author and a TV cook, not a professional chef in a restaurant. And she was a woman, 7. Cultural Conflict not a man, French chefs back then were mostly male. Throughout her life, Child faced - Alex Prud’homme, Personal Interview, 21 April 2020 1. Thesis “The one notion of the cultural barriers because some French kitchen she Frenchmen believed she was Julia Child broke gender and cultural had no desire to replicate was the sex 4. Culinary Barriers incapable of understanding “the barriers from 1950 to 2000 by of the chef. She saw no reason why women as Child At Le Cordon Bleu art of French Cooking.” revolutionizing the industries of After moving to France in 1948, with mentor Max Bugnard well as men should not 1949 Harvard Schlesinger Library Additionally, some Americans professional cooking, publishing, and pursue that career.” Child overcame objections from the Radcliffe Institute television. Child introduced French - Nancy Verde Barr, Le Cordon Bleu administration to resisted her culinary celebration Backstage With Julia, of another country. and gourmet cuisine to Americans and 2007 become the only woman in her class. established herself as a historical icon, Because of cultural and gender-based setting a precedent in her field and discrimination, she was denied a diploma until 1951, when the demanding equality for women in the “Americans don’t know anything at all, NOTHING workforce. male-dominated institution about the techniques of good cooking.” acknowledged her competence. - Avis DeVoto, Harvard Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, 12 January 1958 Chef Gilles Epié (center) with team of L'Orangerie 1995, Gayote might well prove formidable to the American housewife. “Americans have really slammed French cuisine...they think we “She was featured as the symbol of only eat boeuf bourguignon [like Julia Child] and rabbit stew, America’s ‘food revolution.” Diploma from which is wrong.” Le Cordon Bleu Huffington Mifflin 15 March 1951 Rejection letter - Joan Reardon, As Always, Julia, Smithsonian Institute - Gilles Epie, Seattle Times, 18 September 2009 1959 Harvard Schlesinger 2010 Library Radcliffe Institute “As a girl, I had zero interest in the stove...I was never The French Chef Julia Cooking in Her Child’s Omelette, Paris Kitchen encouraged to cook and just didn't see the point in it.” 27 February 1972 1950 Harvard Schlesinger Harvard Schlesinger - Julia Child, My Life In France, 2006 Library, Radcliffe Library Institute Radcliffe Institute “She also helped develop television as the dominant media of the 1960’s and the 70s, and encouraged women to become cooks, writers, TV performers, and the like. She was an influential mentor to many." - Alex Prud’homme, Personal Interview, 21 April 2020 8. Household Icon Through her work, Child Julia Child Portrait became a unique female role 1978 Lynn Gilbert model who ignored traditional gender roles. She transformed the way Americans “In my generation, except for a few people who'd gone into approached cooking, bringing banking or nursing or something like that, middle-class women didn't have careers. You were to marry and have her expertise from the page to children and be a nice mother. You didn't go out and do “Over the rank of secretary, there is no woman in the organization [of Knopf Publishing House]...so I hope to make myself [Avis DeVoto] the screen. anything. I found that I got restless” indispensable. “ Portrait of Julia Child - Julia Child, Interview With Polly Frost, 16 July 2009 1971 BIOGRAPHY™ Julia Child singing With other chefs July 28 1992 Getty Images Letter from editor and Les Trois Gourmandes: friend Avis DeVoto Julia, Simca, Louisette September 1956 1953 Harvard Schlesinger Harvard Schlesinger Library Library Radcliffe Institute Radcliffe Institute “I fell in love with the public, the public fell in Child, One Of Four love with me, and I try to Women On A 1966 “I think one can see from history that the great TIME Magazine Cover, keep it that way.” November 25 1966 creators are men.” - Julia Child, New York - Julia Child, TIME Magazine, 26 November 1966 5. Publishing Barriers Times Interview, 2003 2. Female Rights and Responsibilities “You are going to beat them all From 1951 - 1961, Child joined chefs Simone Beck hands down...yours is going to be Child experienced the implementation a great cookbook.” and Louisette Berthold to write the first French of the 19th Amendment, both world - Avis DeVoto, Harvard “No matter if she breaks the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe cookbook for Americans. After being rejected by 21 rules...Her viewers on 104 wars, and the birth of television, all of Institute, 23 October 1953 male publishers, Child overcame gender and cultural educational TV stations across which expanded women’s rights and the US...adore her. Manhattan barriers by publishing her first of 18 books, Mastering matrons refuse to dine out the opportunities. Nonetheless, in 1950, the Art of French Cooking, which sold a night she is on...Julia Child's TV cooking shows have made her a women were expected to devote their record-breaking 100,000+ copies. cult from coast to coast and put lives to their family or, if employed, her on a first-name basis with her Child Signs Fans’ fans.” Books hold menial positions devoid of January, 1977 Celebration After Child - TIME Staff, TIME Shutterstock Is Awarded French authority or pay equal to male Legion D’Honneur Magazine, 25 Nov 1966 “Become a fascinating 2000 woman by putting your counterparts. Getty Images man’s needs “...the enthusiasts around here are absolutely first...essentially, this is all convinced that this book is revolutionary and we intend about shutting up and to prove it and to make it a classic.” letting the man be a man.” - Judith Jones [Child’s Editor], As Always Julia, 6 Don’t Buy Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. You - Helen Andelin, May 1960 will never cook from it...the inconvenient truth is that although the Fascinating Womanhood, --- --- country’s best-loved “French chef” produced a...recipe 1963 collection...it has always been daunting. It was never meant for the frivolous or trendy. And it now seems even more overwhelming in 9. Contemporary Legacy Black news on the cookbook front...the answer is NO, a[n efficient] world.” Despite modern interest in frozen Neg, Non, Nein...too expensive to print, no prospects of - Regina Schrambling, Slate Group, 28 August 2009 a mass audience. Too bad. food efficiency and healthy living Fascinating Womanhood Book Cover exhibited in dieting and the 1974 Helen Andelin Semi-Homemade culture of Sandra Lee, Child’s legacy of culinary innovation remains apparent during “Each time a woman stands up for herself, without the COVID-19 crisis. Currently, knowing it possibly, without claiming it, she stands up Mastering the Art of French Cooking for all women." - Maya Angelou, New York Times, 23 July 2007 is sold out on popular platforms. No Neit Nian Letter November 1959 Harvard Schlesinger Library Radcliffe Institute Sandra Lee Holding a Semi-Homemade Dish February 10 2010 “Honest to God Julia, you have brought a Getty Images revolution into this household. I wholly expect the Avis DeVoto and Julia Child Sitting Outdoors completed book to cause a real revolution.” 18 May 1956 Harvard Schlesinger Library - Avis DeVoto, Harvard Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute Radcliffe Institute, 20 March 1953 "Child really was the forerunner for “Well Julia, she was a pioneer, and she set out everything that happens on the Food “Julia Child taught an entire generation how to cook – and to write the book that would tell us how to Network... [I get] lumped in with she had such fun doing it on TV! I will be forever in her cook French food...the recipes...who the heck Sandra Lee, but whatever. I try to do debt.” would have the patience....but, I learned how more than that—and I think it's - Ina Garten, Smithsonian, 13 August 2012 to cook, really, from Julia Child.” important, for example, to start United States Navy Recruiting relearning to cut up whole chickens 1917 - Martha Stewart, PBS, 15 August 2012 Howard Chandler Christy [like Child]." Library Of Congress - Rachael Ray, Newsweek, Hardee’s Advertisement 7 August 2009 Limits Women to Van Heusen Ties Household Kitchen Sexist Advertisement 1940 1951 Smithsonian Institute Smithsonian Institute “I was going to be a great woman novelist. Then the Filming The French Chef 1965 war came along and I think it's hard for young Harvard Schlesinger Library Radcliffe Institute people today, don't you, to realize that when World Child With A Knife On Television War II happened we were dying to go and help our 1963 Harvard Schlesinger country.” Library - Julia Child, My Life in France, 2006 Radcliffe Institute “Also, the men who ran public television back then didn't always listen to her good suggestions -- Julia Child and Martha Rachael Ray Book Ina Garten cooking in for things like hosting a cooking Make a Cover Her kitchen Croquembouche 2019 December 2019 show with other chefs as her December 6 1995 Penguin Random NBC Newswire Child at Kandy, Ceylon 6. Television Barriers CBS House 1944 Harvard Schlesinger guests.” “And then people called in, and Library In 1963, Child’s Emmy Radcliffe Institute - Alex Prud’homme, Personal WGBH was not used to having Interview, 21 April 2020 award-winning cooking show, The people call into one of those shows, saying “that was great! French Chef, premiered. Although Get more of that tall woman with 3. OSS to Paris male directors initially refused her the whisk!” “[Child’s] contribution to American cuisine was immense.