Description
Book SynopsisDana Polan considers what made Julia Childs TV show, The French Chef, so popular during its original broadcast and such enduring influences on American cooking, American television, and American culture since then.
Trade Review“[A] history of early American television telescoped through the persona and history of Julia Child. . . . [F]ascinating. . . . Mr. Polan’s meticulous work in
Julia Child’s The French Chef contributes much to the growing literature on American food history.” - Cynthia D. Bertelsen,
New York Journal of Books“[Polan’s] writing is consistently engaging, whether he's discussing chicken carcasses being made to dance along the counter or the technical implications of a dropped soufflé. He also brings a steady influx of humor and interesting tangents to his account. . . . Thoroughly researched and wonderfully illuminating, Polan's book will earn admiration in both readers interested in television and those interested in Julia Child.” - Andi Diehn,
ForeWord“
Julia Child’s The French Chef is a fabulous book filled with delicious nuggets about the television series that changed what Americans ate—and what Americans watched on television. The book is both entertaining and informative, and it is timely, for it has been nearly fifty years since the series first aired. Dana Polan is as bright, insightful, and companionable as was the television series. Bravo!”—
Andrew F. Smith, Editor,
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America“In
Julia Child’s The French Chef, Dana Polan offers a fascinating new perspective on Child and her on-air persona. He demonstrates the crucial interplay among the celebrity (Julia), handler (her husband, Paul), and producer (the public television station WGBH), and the way they all came together into such a magical whole. This investigation is an important contribution to our understanding of Child’s seminal role in shaping American attitudes toward food.”—
Darra Goldstein, Editor in Chief,
Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture“With a refreshing intellectual passion, Dana Polan offers a compelling glimpse into the industrial and cultural ethos of Julia Child and her television show,
The French Chef. Polan carefully delineates a model for how to study the media through an individual program, and in so doing, provides a definitive reason for the need to study popular culture in a theoretically and methodologically rigorous way. Essential for those in food and food-related studies, this insightful and engaging book will also be a must-read for media studies scholars.”—
Sarah Banet-Weiser, author of
Kids Rule!: Nickelodeon and Consumer Citizenship“[A] history of early American television telescoped through the persona and history of Julia Child. . . . [F]ascinating. . . . Mr. Polan’s meticulous work in
Julia Child’s The French Chef contributes much to the growing literature on American food history.” -- Cynthia D. Bertelsen * New York Journal of Books *
“[Polan’s] writing is consistently engaging, whether he's discussing chicken carcasses being made to dance along the counter or the technical implications of a dropped soufflé. He also brings a steady influx of humor and interesting tangents to his account. . . . Thoroughly researched and wonderfully illuminating, Polan's book will earn admiration in both readers interested in television and those interested in Julia Child.” -- Andi Diehn * Foreword Reviews *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix
1. The Difference She Made 1
2. Television Cookery b.c. (Before Child) 41
3. French Cuisine, American Style 78
4. The Beginnings of
The French Chef 114
5. Prepping
The French Chef 137
6. The Success of
The French Chef 185
7. New Beginnings and the Ending to
The French Chef 214
8. Kitchen Drama 231
Notes 249
References 277
Further Readings on TV Cooking Shows 285
Index 289
