Trivia time!
Today’s topic: Julia Child (it’s her birthday—she would have been 99 today)
Question: Before she became famous as a TV chef and author of cookbooks, what was Julia Child’s profession?
Here’s a hint:
Still stuck? That’s the shoulder insignia of the OSS (Office of Strategic Services), the predecessor to the CIA. That’s right—she was a spy! While stationed in Ceylon (now called Sri Lanka), she met her husband, Paul Cushing Child. They eventually moved to Paris, where she attended Le Cordon Bleu cooking school and, with the help of two friends, began to write Mastering the Art of French Cooking, which is perhaps one of the most famous cookbooks ever written. From there, her fame snowballed, leading to many TV series, Emmy and Peabody awards, an appearance on the cover of Time magazine, and nearly 20 books!
If you’re interested in more details on her life as a spy, check out Jennet Conant’s A Covert Affair.
Or, if you want to know more about French cooking, we’ve also got Mastering the Art of French Cooking.
Or maybe you’re not interested in cooking yourself, but you’d like to know about how someone else fared while trying to cook every single recipe in this book over the course of a year; if so, then Julie & Julia is the book for you.
Whatever your tastes are, we’ve surely got something for you! Bon appétit!
| Jake Gauslow |
| Adult Services Librarian | |
| jgauslow@friscotexas.gov |
Tags: books, cookbooks, Frisco Public Library, History, Julia Child, OSS, strange but true, trivia
