Julia Child Remembered

The French Chef

Rayna Green, curator of the "Bon Appetit! Julia Child's Kitchen at the Smithsonian" exhibition, was online Friday, Aug. 13, at 2 p.m. ET to talk about the life and career of "The French Chef.'"

A transcript follows.

Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.

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Lancaster, Calif.: Thank you for taking the time to speak with us Rayna. As a life long fan of Julia Child, I am saddened to hear of her passing and send my sincerest condolences to her extended family and friendship circle. I have missed her wonderful sense of humor for the past few years, but she will certainly live on via my cookbook collection and the fondest of memories.

Are there any special events planned in her memory at this time?

Rayna Green: Of course, we will be acknowledging and commemorating Julia's legacy regularly throughout the run of the exhibition of her kitchen. As of now, we have not planned any particular event. There will no doubt, be many events across the country ... organized by Julia's friends and colleagues. But, at the Museum, we will be receiving and inviting guests into her kitchen every day of the year--to remember and celebrate her legacy to us.

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Miami, Fla.: I don't know much about Julia Child's personal life -- where was she born, did she have any siblings and did she have any children? I know she was married. Who survives her, if anyone?

If no one survived her, do you know if she willed her estate to say the Smithsonian or some other organization. Thanks.

Rayna Green: Julia was born, in Pasadena , California in 1912. She was married to Paula Child, who died in 1994. She has no children. She has a large family, however, of nieces, nephews, and others. She gave her kitchen to the Smithsonian in 2001. The rest of her estate will, no doubt, go to her family, and to the many non-profits she was associated with in all her professional life...but, all of that is, of course, a personal matter for her family and legatees.

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Washington, D.C.: I think Julia Child did a lot to promote better cooking and eating throughout America, but I think it demeans the breadth of American cooking traditions to overstate her achievement. Specifically she brought the French tradition to the narrow, bland cuisine that the WASPs brought from the British Isles. She didn't introduce French cooking to the Creoles and Cajuns of Louisiana. Nor was French cuisine a huge improvement for the Italians, the Mexicans or the Pennsylvania Dutch.

Rayna Green: I think it would be fair to say that she convinced many people that cooking could be fun....and that even cooking they imagined to be difficult...as in French cooking...could be easy and wonderful. She would never have pretended to introduce French cooking to those who already knew some version of it. She just wanted people to enjoy cooking and enjoy being in the kitchen.

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Chantilly, Va.: What do visitors to Julia's kitchen find most intriguing or surprising? And has it been popular with museum visitors?

Rayna Green: The kitchen is enormously popular with all sorts of visitors...young and old, men and women, every nationality you can imagine, professional cooks, home cooks...you name it. Most visitors are surprised that they are actually seeing the "real thing," not a replica....but they love the kitchen because it's not a slicked up, high tech kitchen, but a real home kitchen. They always say how "homey" it is.

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Fairfax, Va.: Did you and Julia discuss how her kitchen should be displayed or what things would be displayed? Do you have a favorite recipe of hers that you cook?

Rayna Green: We didn't discuss how things should be displayed except to say that the kitchen would be shown exactly as she had it. The kitchen is precisely the way the kitchen was on the day that she left her Cambridge home to go to her new home in Santa barbara.
Of course, all of us at the museum who have worked with Julia's kitchen cook from her book's...and we all have our favorite recipes of hers. My is the recipe for the Reine de Saba cake in Vol. 1 of mastering the Art of French Cooking

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Reston, Va.: She will be sorely missed as an icon of trying new things, pushing one's self to move beyond the bland norm. Her dry sense of humor and willingness to laugh at her own mannerisms made her a joy to watch for decades. Long live Julia.

Rayna Green: amen!

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Washington, D.C.: Everybody thinks she's not American because of that "accent." Was she in fact born in the USA?

Rayna Green: Julia was born and raised in Pasadena, California...but her family had origins in New England. She went to school in New England and lived there for over 40 years. Moreover, she lived in other countries for a number of years. So her accent and manner of speaking were a mixture of all the places in which she had lived.

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Fairfax, Va.: Did she have her own favorite chefs?

Rayna Green: I'm sure she had her personal favorites, but, of course, she was generous to and praised many, many chefs. Hundreds of chefs believe her to be their mentor, and she was always incredibly generous to chefs...with her time and with her praise for their work.

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Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.: Julia Child and her recent partner-in-cuisine, Jacques Pepin, are two of the biggest influences in my wanting to be a proficient home cook. Through watching their shows and using their books, I have learned that really good cooking is not only not a lot of work, but it can be a lot of fun and very rewarding. I will miss Julia, although I am sure we will be watching her shows for years to come. I will be cooking one of Julia's recipes for my finance when I go home tonight in her honor.

Rayna Green: Bon Appetit!

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Arlington, Va.: Ms Green:
Thank you for your time today. What sticks out from your time spent with Julia Child as you were putting together the exhibit?

Rayna Green: Of course, just having the pleasure of working with Julia and getting the kitchen up for the public has been an extraordinary pleasure for all of us associated with the exhibit. But naturally, the most rewarding thing was to know that we could somehow share Julia's legacy with a huge public for years to come. As we were putting together the exhibit, the thing that struck us most was just how much joy she brought her public....and we could share in that for years to come.

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Georgetown, Washington, D.C.: How did the Smithsonian get the exhibit? Wasn't anybody in Cambridge also vying for it?

Rayna Green: When we heard that Julia would be retiring from her Cambridge home in 2001, some other museum friends and friends of Julia's suggested that we should ask her for the kitchen....an audacious and sort of outrageous idea.. But we were persuaded that we should ask her, and we did, after spending several days in the kitchen photographing it and aking her all sorts of questions. She had already given some things in the kitchen to another institution....her copper pots went to Copia, a food museum in California....and many things not actually in the kitchen had been promised to friends and family. But, we asked her for it and we demonstrated to her that we could use the kitchen to teach---which is what she had loved to do...and she gave us...well, she gave the kitchen to the American public.

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Alexandria, Va.: Julia Child's 1960's TV show is responsible for my mother expanding her cooking repertoire beyond meatloaf, baked chicken and spaghetti with meatballs and for making me interested in cooking, even as a 12- year-old.

Rayna Green: so keep cooking!

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Downtown D.C.: I wonder what Julia thinks of all these designer kitchens, with their stainless fancy appliances? Do you think she was ever tempted ...?

Rayna Green: no, she was, we think, never quite tempted at all to change her kitchen to a new stainless high tech kitchen. She and her husband, Paul, had designed the kitchen long ago, to fit their specific needs and ideas. They loved the kitchen and its functionality and warmth...and would not have changed it for the world. Julia loved things that functioned well, and she might have been tempted by newer things that worked better than the ones she had.....but she loved the kitchen she had.

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Tenafly, N.J.: What is by far the most popular or asked about item in her kitchen exhibit at the Smithsonian?

Rayna Green: actually, people ask about all sorts of things in the kitchen.....the big old Garland commercial range, for example.. they are often perplexed about the very modern black under-cabinet icemaker......and they are entertained by all her refrigerator magnets.....so they really ask about and comment on everything.

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Raleigh, N.C.: Did Julia have a favorite dish? I remember her once singing the praises of a McDonald French Fry (back when they still fried them in tallow!)

Rayna Green: People always want to know what Julia ate and what she liked. She told everyone that, if at home and cooking for herself, she preferred a nice baked potato (with lots of butter, of course). She liked tuna fish sandwiches for lunch. And she adored a good hamburger. She always told people never to be afraid to cook for her....that she liked the simplest things if they were well prepared.

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Washington, D.C.: Are there any plans to expand the current exhibit to perhaps encompass more aspects of Julia's life and teaching?

Rayna Green: no, the exhibit will stay as it is. We do a number of public programs that explore the history of American food....but the exhibit will stay as it is....

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Fayetteville, Ark.: Julia Child was a great TV personality. Was she the first TV cook in America?

Rayna Green: She was not the first TV cook in America...there were a few TV cooks, on regional shows, in the few years leading up to Julia. Two other cooks, Dione Lucas and James Beard, had tried television shows, but those were not successful in the market. When Julia did a sample cooking show at WGBH in Boston in 1963, she lit up the switchboard and a new phase in public television was launched.....she remained on television for virtually 40 years....her reruns of older shows still bring her into homes every day.

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Laurel, Md.: Julia Child was a definite influence in my desire to learn to cook well. I remember as a young, new wife in 1972 watching what I think were re-runs of her show and trying recipes. Thank you Julia Child, may you rest in peace.

Rayna Green: thank you for sharing your feelings about Julia with the rest of us.

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Rockville, Md.: Do you think that Martha Stewart's cooking show will eventually be seen as the same kind of icon as Julia's?

Rayna Green: only time will tell which shows survive and are re-broadcast. Any one will have quite a track record to beat.

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Alexandria, Va.: I just wrote in about Julia Child and the Spy Museum ... Here's an excerpt and link that does say she had some participation with the 1st international spy organization during WWII.

Excerpt:
The full story of her life and her role in the culinary history of America is told for the first time in "Appetite for Life: The Biography of Julia Child," published in hardback by Doubleday and now available in Anchor paperback. A love story of Paul Child and Julia McWilliams, this biography tells the story of her work with America's first international spy organization in World War II (OSS: Office of Strategic Services) in India and China and her life in Washington, D.C/, Paris, Marseilles, Bonn, and Oslo -- where her husband, Paul worked for the U.S. State Department.

Julia Child Book Review

Rayna Green: She was, as she would have told you, a file clerk in the OSS, in World War II...where she met her husband Paul....and where she did her service to America during the War. We have, at the Kitchen, a signaling mirror that she was issued by the OSS.

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Gaithersburg, Md.: Ms. Green,

I've become quite fond of the Julia Child kitchen in the short time you've had it at the Smithsonian. It just occurred to me when you mentioned its current teaching function -- are any of the appliances hooked up? Is it still usable?

Rayna Green: No, nothing is actually hooked up and functional. When something becomes a Smithsonian artifact, in general, it is never again used....al though we do play our Stradivarius instruments for the public. But Julia's kitchen is not going to be used to cook. We mean by its educational function that we can share...with the public...Julia's ideas and encouragements to people about learning to cook and to enjoy the fellowship and warmth of the kitchen...

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Indianapolis, Ind.: One of my first memories was watching Miss Julia Child on PBS. One time she held up a chicken and it fell to the floor. Since it was live TV, she picked it up, washed it off and continued on. We'll miss you Julia!

Rayna Green: Actually, you share that memory with a large number of people, though Julia and the producers of her first TV show have said repeatedly that it never happened. What did happen, when she dropped something or made a mistake, was that she laughed about it and told her audience to ignore it. After all, she said, you're alone in the kitchen. Your memory is a wonderful reminder that Julia passed into American folk tradition a long time ago....and the stories people tell about her remind us of how important she became to Americans.

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Eastern Market, Washington, D.C.: I was at the American History Museum just last Sunday and I didn't see this exhibit. Where exactly is it?

Rayna Green: The exhibit is on the first floor of the Museum, with the entry from Constitution Ave. Just ask at our visitor information desk, and they will direct you back to the exhibit. Please come back!

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Bethesda, Md.: Unlike James Beard, Julia never seemed to have gotten involved in questionable endorsements. Did she have any feelings about chefs who produce their own line of products and appear in commercials and things like that?

Rayna Green: She would not have commented at all on other chef's practices of commercial endorsements and product sales....no more than she would have endorsed anything herself.

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Washington, D.C.: We love her in the U.S., but she really wasn't a champion of American cooking -- she's famous because she pushed French techniques. Do you think that even after American chefs improved, she still thought French was the best?

Rayna Green: Actually, Julia was a champion of good cooking and good techniques wherever they were found. And she said that repeatedly through the years....of course, many of her television shows were devoted to cooking with cooks who represented other traditions besides French....she loved learning those as much as she loved teaching....so she really was an advocate for good cooking. Starting with French cooking was just natural because she fell in love with French cooking first.

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Alexandria, Va.: Slate has just posted an old "Diary" of Julia's: A Julia Child Diary Entry (Slate, Aug. 13)
it is charming, she so clearly just appreciates the world around her, her friends, and food.

Rayna Green: She did, just as we appreciate her.

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Washington, D.C.: Was she a millionaire?

Rayna Green: That is a question I could not begin to answer. What I could tell you is that, whatever she had, she shared with her friends and colleagues. She gave her kitchen to the American public. Pretty nifty, huh!

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Washington, D.C.: Do you know how Julia dealt with the difficult (I would imagine) chore of giving up cooking late in life?

Rayna Green: Well, she downsized her entire life, including downsizing her cooking efforts. But she still cooked, although very little, for herself....and she always enjoyed the efforts of those who cooked for her.

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Washington, D.C.: Did Julia have any particular favorites of her own recipes?

Rayna Green: Yes, she loved her style of hamburgers and her baked potatoes. She continued to cook from her own books through the years.

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Cambridge, Mass.: Hurrah for Julia! Anyone who recommends measuring out a glass of wine to pour into the cook is wonderful. She gave the American people the gift of her joy in food and company. Merci, Julia!

Rayna Green: and Bon AppŽtit to you!

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Julia's background: I seem to recall that Ms. Child became interested in cooking as the young wife of a American diplomat(Paul Child) living in Paris.

Rayna Green: yes, she had a memorable meal in Rouen, when she and Paul first went to France....and she determined to learn to cook the food that she fell in love with...so she went to the Cordon Bleu in Paris, in the late forties, after the war.

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Washington, D.C. (U-Street Neighborhood): Please forgive my ignorance ... Julia Child is a natural-born American? I watched her cooking shows on PBS when was a young lad. It was always a comfort to watch the shows. She was the one person who propagated my love for cooking. I had always thought, due to her thick accent, that she was a Brit. She will be missed by me a great deal. I have all of her cookbooks. I love cooking French cuisine at home; although, it can be very wallet-draining.

I'm actually astonished to learn this. Am I the only one who thought she was British?

Rayna Green: Julia was a California woman, born and bred. Though she lived a long time in New England, and in France, Germany, and Norway, she returned to her California home when she retired.

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Upper Marlboro, Md.: My very first cookbook was a present from my mother at the age of 9 years old. It was Julia's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking". Needless to say, it was a bit overwhelming for a 9-year-old. But I made her beef burgundy dish, and it became my signature dish at 9! I went on to work in the kitchen professionally, and was in fact given an autographed copy of the new edition of "Mastering the Art" by Julia, when she heard about how she had inspired me. I have both the original and the new edition in a prized spot of my kitchen. She was a wonderful woman, and she will be missed.

Rayna Green: Julia would have said, keep in the kitchen and keep cooking.

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New York, N.Y.: I'm in my 20's and not a great cook. Which of Julia's cookbooks would you recommend? The French techniques ones seem too hard and long.

Rayna Green: actually, if you take any one of her books and you do what she tells you to do, as she would have said, you can do it. It won't seem at all difficult when you learn the way to cook via her instructions.

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Washington, D.C.: Ms. Childs really inspired me to be more experimental in my cooking, and experimental in life in general. I have experimented with Spanish paella, foi gras, steak tartar, rusty trombones, and exotic tea bagging. I just wanted to say that she will truly be missed.

Rayna Green: yes, she will be missed.

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Rayna Green: We want to thank everybody for all their questions today and for sharing their feeling and stories about Julia. All these just demonstrate what she has meant to American culture and history. Please come and visit her kitchen. And Bon Appetit to everyone.

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