Why French Food Was Julia Child's Favorite To Cook

Despite Julia Child's fondness for Chinese cuisine, we all know that she built her empire and established a name in the culinary world through her French cooking. However, before learning the rudiments of European dining, Child mostly lived a comfortable life in Pasadena, California. It was only when her husband, Paul Child, moved continents for his work with the U.S. Foreign Service that Julia unlocked her passion for gourmet food, especially after the French restaurant La Couronne in Rouen served her a life-changing meal when she first set foot in France.

In hindsight, it can be tempting to view those early moments as minor, given her later success as a pioneering television personality. But to better understand why French food became Child's favorite to cook, one must recognize her transition from her life stateside to her new environment in Paris.

In her memoir, "My Life in France," Child admitted that she fell in love with French food after moving to Paris. The Parisian food culture also inspired her to experiment more in the kitchen. "I fell in love with French food—the tastes, the processes, the history, the endless variations, the rigorous discipline, the creativity, the wonderful people, the equipment, the rituals," she wrote in the book, which was released posthumously two years after her death in 2004. "Surrounded by gorgeous food, wonderful restaurants, a kitchen at home—and an appreciative audience in my husband—I began to cook more and more."

Before Julia Child even got the chance to make her first dish for television, she had to learn the ropes not just by assimilating what she was seeing for the first time as an expat in Paris. She took French cooking very seriously by enrolling in Le Cordon Bleu, a famous Parisian culinary institution. Child took a 10-month program at the school, starting in 1949, and learned the fundamentals of preparing French dishes under the tutelage of Chef Max Bugnard. She studied alongside eleven American veterans whose tuition was covered by the U.S. government. Her affiliation with the Office of Strategic Services also helped cover the cost of her education. Although she completed the program in 1950, it reportedly took a full year for her to get her diploma due to a supposed animosity between her and the school director, Madame Elisabeth Brassart.

After completing her formal training in French cuisine, Julia did not waste time putting to work what she had learned. She opened a cooking school called L'Ecole des Trois Gourmandes with two fellow culinary enthusiasts. This work led to her translating French recipes into English, eventually resulting in her first cookbook, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." While promoting the book, Child snagged a deal to do a cooking show for the small screen, and the rest, as they say, is history.