Julia Child’s Kitchen
Bon Appetit!
Americans will be spending a great deal time this week, in the kitchen and sitting around the table enjoying our Thanksgiving dinner. Thus, I thought you might enjoy a peek, at what has to be one of the most famous American kitchens, of all time – Julia Child’s!
In November of 2001, Julia Child donated her kitchen to the Smithsonian Institute, in Washington D.C., allowing all of us an opportunity to peer into her workspace, which was designed in 1961, by her husband Paul Child. Mr. Child took care to customize his wife’s environment, making sure it met her specific needs. For example, having created a peg board to hold her special copper pots and pans, he outlined each item, so that it could easily be returned to its right place, every time; he also raised the countertops, in the kitchen, by two inches, to accommodate Julia Childs’ stature.
What a collection! I do not own any copper pots, nor have I ever cooked in one — how about you?
The kitchen on display is the actual kitchen, from the cabinets to the appliances, which graced the Child home. It is quite wonderful to be able to see how she arranged her tools, to look at her cookbook collection, and to remember her charm and enthusiasm for both food and life. The exhibit is housed in the National Museum of American History, on the first floor; and like all museums that are a part of the Smithsonian, it is always free.
So very European of Mrs. Child — I would love to play with this set!
I love good tools.
The only thing not real in the exhibit, but I can easily imagine these having been freshly picked.
Can you imagine the meals eaten in this kitchen?
Besides Baking with Julia, which is a fine book, I own first editions of both Mastering the Art of French Cooking and The French Chef Cookbook, both of course, purchased at a second hand store, as well as My Life In France, by Julia Child, which given the sheer amount of post-its attached to its pages, I find it difficult to understand why I have not recommended it to you, under Favorite Books. Nevertheless, may I say now, that if you too were ever enthralled by Mrs. Child’s passions, do pick-up a copy of her books, the cookbooks are a pleasure to read on so many levels, whether or not you ever make a single recipe, and her autobiography was captivating!
Her cookbooks
There are other items on display, including her hard fought for diploma!
And her first cookbook!
All photos are taken through the Plexiglas walls which protect the kitchen; so please pardon the glare and reflections.
