The French Chef

Julia Carolyn McWilliams, also known as JuJu or Jukie, was born in Pasadena, California. Growing up she had a younger sister, Dorothy, and a younger brother, John McWilliams III. Julia found an interest in reading when she was in Smith College. Later on she graduated with a degree in history, and she moved to Manhattan to become a writer.

After a year or so of living in Manhattan she went back to California. Her mother gets really sick and dies of high blood pressure. During World War II Julia is hired to type for the U.S. Information Agency in Washington D.C. She traveled to China, continuing that job, and meets Paul Child.

Paul and Julia went back to the U.S. and took time to get to know each other. Julia drove  across the country with Paul to meet his family and twin brother where they announced that they were getting married. Paul took a job that requires a lot of moving, so they moved from Washington to Paris, Germany, and Norway. Julia has her first meal at La Couronne in France. She describes it as “the most exciting meal of my life!”

      Julia enrolled in a cooking school, Le Cordon Bleu, and she graduates, but she fails her first exam. Julie pairs up with two French women, Simon and Louisette. They work together on a French cookbook which takes a few years to publish. She goes on a T.V. show, and from there she launches her own show. As Julia continued her show, she is featured in Time magazine. She is described as a 6 foot 2 inch tall star of The French Chef.

Julia's second book, The French Chef Cookbook, is a compilation of all her recipes which she also publishes. Paul starts to have chest pains for a few years, and he is diagnosed with blocked blood vessels. He gets bypass surgery to fix his heart. After surgery, Paul continues to have strokes and Julia cut down her traveling and work time.

Once again Julia publishes another book called From Julia Child’s Kitchen. After a few years of her book being published, she continues her show on PBS. She also gets more rewards in honor of her cooking. When Julia's face appears on Parade Magazine, the editors say it was perfect because of her detailed explanations.

When Julia turned eighty, and she attended a lot of parties in Boston, Los Angeles, New York, and of course at home in Cambridge. When Julia is away, Paul dies at 92 from a long time illness in a nursing home. Julia takes time to recover from her husband's death, and when she recovers she airs on Jacque Pepin's cooking show.

The following year, Julia receives many awards for her cooking. Julia and Jacques Pepin do a lot of shows, and she’s awarded an Emmy for being an outstanding host. In 2002, Julia donated her stage kitchen to the Smithsonian National museum. Her kitchen is a very popular exhibit, and it is still very popular exhibit today. On August 13, 2004, Julia died of kidney failure two days before her 92nd birthday.

My Life in France, a memoir, is written by Julia's nephew, Alex Prud’homme. Julia’s 100th  birthday is celebrated in 2012. It brings back many memories. In memory of Julia and other amazing chefs that passed away. The U.S Postal service temporarily puts them on a stamp.

In total Julia published 15 books about French cooking. She always wanted to be an author, and she’s found a way to be a cook, and an author at the same time. In 2009, Amy Adams and Meryl Streep makes a movie called Julie & Julia where she has to complete 524 recipes from her cookbook. The movie is released on August 7, 2009.

Julie & Julia won 5 awards for great acting and impersonation. The movie explains most of the 524 recipes from Julia Child’s cookbook. It shows the struggle of some of the dishes and how hard they could really be. It also shows the life of a New Yorker growing up in the big city.

All of Julia Child’s cook books explain how to cook and how to use the right utensils. Julia made sure you understood thoroughly through her instructions before you move on to the next step. Julia was always very thorough when working with people. She always had the patience when she was prepping for an episode. Each episode usually took 19 hours to prep.

The French Chef aired on T.V. for ten years, and then Julia Child and Company was on for a year. She had many different series of shows explaining different things about cooking. Like Julia Child said, “with enough butter anything is is good.” This was true. Julia child loved to use butter in everything. She used so much through all the years that she ended up using 753 pounds of it. She said if you don’t want to use butter, use cream!