Separating Fact vs. Fiction in the Life of Julia Child

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Күн бұрын

Cooking legend Julia Child introduced French cuisine to American audiences in 1963 with GBH's groundbreaking television series, "The French Chef." Now the subject of the HBO Max series, "Julia," GBH explores what's fact and what's fiction and how "The French Chef" continues to influence how we eat today with this Q&A virtual panel discussion recorded May 10, 2022.
Moderated by GBH Chief Marketing Officer Tina Cassidy, the panel features Julia's original producer Russ Morash, Julia's grand-nephew and author Alex Prud'homme, Bon Appétit and Epicurious Editor-in-Chief Dawn Davis.
00:00 - Intro
04:30 - Julia Child "TRUE or FALSE" flash round
07:45 - Julia's legacy
10:20 - Background on Julia's TV kitchen studio
12:00 - Julia's relationship to feminism
13:59 - What was it like having a meal with Julia?
17:05 - Julia's adoption of technology
20:32 - Julia was never intimidated
22:19 - Julia branching out beyond French cuisine
24:17 - What was it like working with Julia?
27:35 - The historical accuracy of the HBO Max "Julia" series
37:33 - Alex and Russ on special cookware they still use gifted by Julia
40:46 - Julia's ability to cook and talk through mistakes
42:00 - HBO Max's food styling in "Julia"
43:09 - Julia's favorite meal to cook and eat
49:38 - Did Julia fund "The French Chef" pilot?
52:00 - If you were able to cook a meal for Julia today, what would that meal consist of?
For more content related to Julia's life and legacy: bit.ly/3qXBnrb
Stream select episodes of "The French Chef" on GBH Passport: bit.ly/3bv1VYb
Keep up with GBH on social media:
Facebook: bit.ly/facebookGBH
Twitter: bit.ly/twitterGBH
Instagram: bit.ly/instagramGBH
#JuliaChild #TheFrenchChef #cooking

Пікірлер: 60

@Djm8520 7 ай бұрын

As is said herein, the HBO (now Max) show is not a documentary, it is fiction BASED ON the life of Julia Child. I’m enjoying the heck out of it because it is very well acted (Sarah Lancaster, David Hyde Pierce and Bebe Neuwirth) and because it is written for adults, not the TicketyTock crowd. Nitpicking the minor inaccuracies does not impress me. Historical fiction, for example, always merges events and invents some characters to provide narrative or context to historical persons and/or events.

@patriciapaula8038 Ай бұрын

After taking an extension course at Columbia University Paul Child became a teacher in France, Italy, and the United States, instructing students in various subjects including photography, English, and French. In 1941, while at Avon Old Farms School, he was a teacher and mentor to future poet John Gillespie Magee Jr. Child was a fourth degree black belt in judo as well as a judo instructor. Following his retirement, the Childs moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where his wife wrote cookbooks, and he took photographs to provide illustrations for them. Child was also known as a poet who frequently wrote about his wife; his prose was later celebrated in an authorized biography of her. In Appetite for Life, portions of the letters he wrote to his twin brother while the Childs lived abroad were included as an illustration of his love and admiration for his wife as well as her cooking skills and talent. The man of my dreams!

@decimurphy4686 2 жыл бұрын

Why when there is so much information available about a subject would a network decide to make a "fictional" series???

@jeraldbaxter3532 Жыл бұрын

As Julia's great nephew said, the show was a drama, with the tension and release inherent with that fact.

@nathanjustus6659 Жыл бұрын

Because media lie constantly and have an agenda to destroy our society.

@user-kb8qw7dy4t 7 ай бұрын

Because that's not what TV writers do. They're not documentarians.

@katjoy1289 7 ай бұрын

There is no reason for the character of Alice in the show. Real People could provide plenty of material!

@gregagogogo 7 ай бұрын

Hollywood.

@publiusovidius7386 2 жыл бұрын

Little correction: Reine de Saba is not a flourless chocolate cake. The recipe in the French Chef Cookbook calls for 3/4 c. cake flour (for a 3 egg cake).

@robertknight4672 2 жыл бұрын

If you watch that original episode we see her sift the flour into the measuring cups at the beginning.

@publiusovidius7386 2 жыл бұрын

@@robertknight4672 Correct. That's why the person in this video didn't know what he was talking about when he described it as a flourless chocolate cake.

@josephcollins6033 7 ай бұрын

@@publiusovidius7386 He knows exactly what he is talking about. He made a mistake.

@patriciapaula8038 Ай бұрын

After seeing the Paul Child played by Stanley Tucci in Julie and Julia, it's impossible to look at the one in the HBO series.

@MEMORIA1316 Жыл бұрын

So glad to hear from Russel Morash!

@fadeblac5633 2 жыл бұрын

I fell in love with this series. I had heard about her. I knew she did a cookbook. And, had a TV show. That's it. Now I know most everything about her. Julie and Julia I watched for the first time a few days ago. Get was good. Julia on HBOMAX is wonderful!!!!

@patriciapaula8038 Ай бұрын

12:40 Julia AND Paul's message remains revolutionary to this day. Cooking doesn't have to be slavery. It can be an act of love and you can have fun. Just like marriage and life. That's true empowerment. And not the burning of sweaters or eating tinned food because of a distorted belief that cooking is subservience.

@robertknight4672 2 жыл бұрын

I was watching some of those first season French Chef episodes today and noticed the washer and dryer. Reminded me of a homemade classroom.

@maccarl6935 2 жыл бұрын

Great idea. Great cast of characters, interesting conversation. Well done, GBH. More like this would be interesting--like a conversation about Jim Crockett and the original Victory Garden. You could start with Russ...

@tehee- Жыл бұрын

A most wonderful video that anyone who watched "Julia" should refer to. I loved watching it, but I do believe Sarah Lancashire did not exactly get Julia's mannerisms correct. Julia was strong and obviously a very determined, strong-willed woman. The Julia she portrays, is perhaps a version of her that is more light-hearted and soft. Mr. Morash's comments disliking the series proves that there is a ton of fictional imagineering going on with the HBO Max series. It's fun to watch regardless and I look forward to season two.

@briandelaney9710 6 ай бұрын

Morash is certainly taking a general near hatred of the series which has been reviewed positively across the board mainly because of pique about his portrayal it seems

@ryanhilliard1620 2 жыл бұрын

I totally get Russ's annoyance with the HBO show. I was very disappointed, especially after reading Alex's excellent book. Would love to see a long, detailed interview with Russ clarifying fact and fiction.

@user-yv3ph8ct5e 5 ай бұрын

Wine for sure . Roast chicken , broccoli, roast potatoes and sunchoke soup, and French bread of course.

@artistixone 7 ай бұрын

Thank You Thank You Thank You, each and every one of You!!! This is absolutely spectacular!!!

@testpattern701 6 ай бұрын

Ruth Lockwood was the producer of The French Chef. Shame on Russ Morash for not mentioning her and claiming full credit as producer.

@ceramicatdesigns7844 10 ай бұрын

Julia was a pioneer of French Cooking in America, until then food was bland. The only American to attend Le Cordon Bleu in Paris! I am so glad that we had her she was a true gem! I remember watching her show when I was a teenager and cooking her food. One of my first dishes was A full course meal of Le Coq Au Vin along with the flaming pan! Because of Julia, I went to Fnace to spend a summer to learn French & more about cooking. I loved the Bakeries!

@fishwax6371 7 ай бұрын

You may not believe this, but food was not bland before The French Chef. Any cook could put as much seasoning as they wanted, before Julia and after Julia.

@mikieanthony777 5 ай бұрын

Cooking in the USA has not been bland since 1890, unless you lived before that time. 🤦‍♂️

@philliphayden2727 Жыл бұрын

Didn't you read the script before doing this?

@wickedplanet7431 7 ай бұрын

It's ok to call BS Russ! The first few episodes of Julia paint you as an unwilling participant...until the visit to Julia's home and your reaction to her pate. All that aside I am enjoying the series, and it has renewed my love of Julia Child and her show. As a kid growing up in NH in the 60's PBS was a constant in our home and also introduced me to Monty Python.

@harlandted Жыл бұрын

What a stiff dull presenter.

@emeraldkimble7602 7 ай бұрын

She did original tv filming at Boston gas then Cambridge electric only plCes with full service kitchens

@markcombrinck-hertz3649 Жыл бұрын

hi mark

@ceramicatdesigns7844 10 ай бұрын

If Julia were here today, would she have a recommendation for a diet for my cat & yes he is a bit finniky, he prefers treats over food. He is an indoor cat.

@louiscouperin3731 Жыл бұрын

34:25

@lcharles5909 6 ай бұрын

I am an expat who lives in the UK and works in Education. One of my former students won the Julia Child Scholarship at The Cordon Blu here in London, and now works in Patisserie!

@XavierKatzone Жыл бұрын

Did you say "Julia CHILDS"? 🤣🤣🤣 Russ is a GEM of TROOT! ❤️

@patriciapaula8038 Ай бұрын

The HBO serie simply destroyed Paul's image. A man with a healthy, integrated masculinity, a man of action, and at the same time a refined, sensitive, sexy artist. A cultured and well-travelled man. A photographer with an extremely accurate eye. They've turned a guy into a crying baby waiting to be cuddled by his wife who carries him on her back!!!!!! And "let" him take part in her project, with her best friend criticising him all the time. A horror! By the way... Peter Travers of Rolling Stone declaring, "Tucci and Streep are magical together, creating a portrait of an unconventional marriage that deserves its own movie."

@specialforces101 Жыл бұрын

Potentially very interesting material to explore. Shame that Tina is such a remorseless and obvious Grinch.

@SmartJanitor Жыл бұрын

Yes. It's Mrs. Child to you, Tina, not "Julia."

@seanbryant2848 Жыл бұрын

Russ Morash and Alex Prud'homme both confirmed my feelings about the HBO series, of which I have only seen one full episode and some brief clips. The HBO series is unwatchable, as a "dramatic" series, it is terrible, and it frankly does a complete disservice to Julia Child, and to all her works and her career. Likewise, I think it also dies a gross disservice to PBS, and to all the people who worked with Julia Child.

@user-kb8qw7dy4t 7 ай бұрын

You should watch more than one episode. It's a very good series that still manages to get the point across than Julia Child was a legend with a team of friends and coworkers who helped her along her journey behind the scenes.

@elspet3813 Жыл бұрын

I love she was a feminist with a small 'f' and obviously considered a 'career woman & star' in her day but also thought it important to teach woman how to do gourmet foods or use a cheaper cut of meat or stretch a meal or be prepared to 'impress the husband's boss' after an unexpected phone call or throw a lavish dinner party or cocktails with snacks made exquisitely from pantry staples or mostly lower cost ingredients with just a tiny bit of some expensive ingredient like a slice of truffle added if it really improved the effect or flavor of anything. Both sides of a coin on so many levels

@kekibannmi6054 9 ай бұрын

Please stop with the woke changes to who Julia was. She wasn't a feminist and didn't give a shit about "diversity" as spoken in this piece.

@TheXander360 6 ай бұрын

Right right of course she wasn't a spy 😉

@Wouysnxzlagfbr 4 ай бұрын

So the negress producer is a fictional character?!?!

@KatieMooo905 9 ай бұрын

When did it become ‘ok’ to use real people as characters in fictional dramas passed off as their life story? These people need to ask themselves would they like this done to them, fictional stories attached to their identity, it’s so lazy and so wrong.

@user-kb8qw7dy4t 7 ай бұрын

Hollywood has always done this, and I believe it's mainly because TV writers aren't content with simply rehashing stories from historical research. As long as they capture the main essence of the truth, it doesn't really bother me because I don't go into a show like this expecting to see a documentary.

@publiusovidius7386 2 жыл бұрын

Too bad there was no question about Paul and Julia's anti-gay bigotry. A 2007 Boston Magazine article (still available online) "Just a Pinch of Prejudice" contains some pretty damning evidence.

@Dvy383 2 жыл бұрын

It was a different world back then. She was firmly in the mainstream. Ironically, it's been hinted that Paul's abrupt unplanned retirement was due to persistent questions about his sexuality.

@publiusovidius7386 2 жыл бұрын

@@Dvy383 I knew about that. Actually it probably added fuel to their homophobia.

@lees5073 2 жыл бұрын

Call me crazy, but I am completely uninterested in the sociopolitical views of the person who I trust to prepare my order for dinner. I assume that the chef is not interested in my views either. Food unites us all.

@publiusovidius7386 2 жыл бұрын

@@lees5073😂😂😂 So when did Julia prepare your order for dinner? That must make a good story. And you would happily dine at a restaurant that excludes blacks or gays because food unites? I'll call you crazy and superficial.

@nathanjustus6659 Жыл бұрын

@@publiusovidius7386 if you’re so offended, why are you here?