If you watched PBS as a child, you may have seen a rerun of one of Julia Child's cooking shows, such as Cooking With Master Chefs, Baking With Julia, In Julia's Kitchen With Master Chefs, or Cooking in Concert. Regardless, she has been credited for bringing French cuisine to the American mainstream as well as for revolutionizing home cooking with her numerous detailed and comprehensive cookbooks. Her iconic high pitched voice, lively personality, and knack for teaching made her extremely popular with her audiences. Despite her successful cooking career, it may surprise you that it was not always her passion.
She graduated from Smith College in 1930, where she majored in history, after which she took a job as a copywriter for Furniture Company in New York City. As the United States entered World War II, she felt compelled to serve her country in some way. Being 6’2, however, she was deemed too tall to join the military, so alternatively she decided to volunteer for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the precursor to the CIA. There, she predominantly worked as a research assistant in the Secret Intelligence division typing up declassified government files. Though it was quite brainless work, her skill and her experience earned many new opportunities and advancements at the agency.
When she came to work with the OSS Emergency Sea Rescue Equipment Section, she was amongst those that helped develop shark repellent for World War II explosives. The repellent was extremely important in preserving the explosives meant to attack German U-boats; many curious sharks would accidentally bump into the explosives and set them off, preventing them from living out their true purpose.
After her work with the OSS Emergency Sea Rescue Equipment Section, from 1945 to1945 Child was stationed in Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka), Kunming, then China, serving as Chief of the OSS Registry; this meant that she handled highly classified documents as well as top-secret incoming at outcoming messages between US intelligence.
It was also during her time in service that she met her husband, Paul Child, who was also an OSS officer. He, a lover of food, introduced her to cooking. Once the war ended, Julia Child left the OSS, but her husband continued after receiving a position with the Foreign Service. When his job required the couple to relocate to France in 1948, Julia Child took the opportunity to capitalize on her free time and her new-found love for cooking, so she enrolled at the Cordon Bleu cooking school in Paris.
Several television shows and books, a Peabody Award, an Emmy Award, and a Presidential Medal of Freedom later, Julia Child became an iconic figure in the history of American cuisine.
Sources:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Julia-Child
https://www.pbs.org/food/chefs/julia-child/
https://www.notablebiographies.com/Ch-Co/Child-Julia.html
https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/2007-featured-story-archive/julia-child.html
https://www.history.com/news/julia-child-oss-spy-wwii-shark-repellent
I found it interesting that Julia Child was turned away from the military for being too tall at 6' 2," yet men of that height and taller were easily accepted and praised. It seems like a double standard. When researching this, I found that she applied for the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service and Women’s Army Corps, but I couldn't find a reason for why they didn't want taller women. Today, women between 58 inches and 80 inches are permitted to join the military.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.operationmilitarykids.org/army-height-and-weight-standards/