Why Julia Child's Favorite Cuisine Was French Food

Julia Child, one of the culinary world's most famed American chefs, is forever associated with even more than the food that gave her that acclaim. She is synonymous with kitchen congeniality, accessible recipes, and that odd moment in the late aughts when it seemed like almost anyone could turn a lo-fi blog into a major motion picture. Child, who was born in Pasadena, California (and wasn't too fancy to enjoy her home state's In-N-Out Burger) is also inextricably linked with French cuisine.

Child's association with the fine form is not just because it was the subject matter of so much of her work, like her cookbook "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" and her public access show "The French Chef." She had a genuine fondness for the place and its provisions after relocating to France in the late 1940s that extended far beyond a cleverly identified coverage area. That the republic would largely inspire an enviable, decades-long career alone was enough to evoke a lot of fondness. "Surrounded by gorgeous food, wonderful restaurants, a kitchen at home — and an appreciative audience in my husband — I began to cook more and more," Child later wrote in what would ultimately become her memoir "My Life in France" (via Vogue). "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 ..." And that love reverberated through her work and dining culture back in the States.

Spending one's whirlwind early married years in a place like Paris (Julia McWilliams married Paul Child in 1946; they decamped to France in 1948) will also leave an impression. But this, too, outlasted any honeymoon phase, as Julia Child would live and work in the country — including briefly operating the cooking school L'Ecole des Trois Gourmandes with cookbook co-authors Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle — on and off for many years.

One quintessential French dish in particular factored not only into Child's favorite foods, she called it "life changing," a sentiment typically associated more with romantic love, or at least lottery winnings. In archival footage dusted off for the 2021 documentary "Julia" (via CNN), Child recounts her earliest taste of sole meunière. "It was my first French food and I never got over it," she recalls in Proustian fashion. Seemingly simpler than flashier classics like boeuf bourguignon or coq au vin, it's this humble, buttery white fish that floats a lot of the responsibility for Child's initial interest in French cuisine and legacy as a Franco-American classic. And we're just happy when we can recreate the icon's scrambled eggs.