“Most architects I know don’t know anything about cooking, and their designs are not practical for cooks!” Julia Child wrote to architect Pamela Heyne. Indeed, our contemporary kitchens are showplaces with islands, hidden appliances, and cold stone surfaces. They resemble laboratories more than the heart of the home, and they are neither cook friendly nor family friendly. American culinary icon Julia Child embraced the significance of the family meal and was devoted to sharing delicious food with friends and family at the comfortable dining table in her kitchen, a place where conversation was as important as cuisine. Pamela Heyne and Julia’s long-time food photographer Jim Scherer collaborate to share Julia’s kitchen design and lifestyle concepts in this book, which examines the kitchens in her Cambridge, Massachusetts, home; at la Pitchoune, the Childs’ French vacation retreat; and in her television studio. The authors reveal which materials, layouts, and equipment Julia preferred and why, providing practical advice interspersed with Julia’s inimitable, wry humor. They bring Julia’s wisdom into the contemporary kitchen, exploring current trends, including modern green sensibilities, and varied styles of kitchens, featuring architectural designs by Heyne, Jacques Pepin’s kitchen, a renovation Julia Child consulted on for PBS’s This Old House, several celebrity home kitchens, and more.

Julia Child’s TV show, The French Chef, was extraordinarily popular during its broadcast from 1963 until 1973. Child became a cultural icon in the 1960s, and, in the years since, she and her show have remained enduring influences on American cooking, American television, and American culture. In this concise book, Dana Polan considers what made Child’s program such a success. It was not the first televised cooking show, but it did define and popularize the genre. Polan examines the development of the show, its day-to-day production, and its critical and fan reception. He argues that The French Chef changed the conventions of television’s culinary culture by rendering personality indispensable. Child was energetic and enthusiastic, and her cooking lessons were never just about food preparation, although she was an effective and unpretentious instructor. They were also about social mobility, the discovery of foreign culture, and a personal enjoyment and fulfillment that promised to transcend domestic drudgery. Polan situates Julia Child and The French Chef in their historical and cultural moment, while never losing sight of Child’s unique personality and captivating on-air presence.