The tradition of discipline and technique that Child continuously upheld translates to
every culture, every approach, and every pantry. Sometimes, Child would drop a utensil, a pan, or even a roasted chicken, but she moved on by following the recipe. Child’s mistakes and her carefree reaction to them were key to her success: they made viewers feel she was one of them. The spontaneity of “The French Chef” was born in part of low budgets. With no funds for reshoots, each installment was filmed straight through and included Child’s errors and ad-libs. Before long, “The French Chef” was an essential part of America’s television diet. After filming some 200 programs on French cooking, Child moved on to contemporary cuisine with Julia Child and Company and other PBS shows. Though not technically the producer of her early programs, Child was very involved in creating them. Her personality, combined with her cooking techniques and style, contributed enormously to the show’s look, feel, and taste. Her manner was distinctive and became a part of seventies pop culture such that she received one of television’s highest honors: a parody on “Saturday Night Live." In a 1978 sketch, Dan Aykroyd played her bleeding to death from cooking-related wounds.
Julia Child arose in media to change Americans’ diets and American cooking. Inspiring
home cooks everywhere to move beyond creamed onions and pot roast, Julia helped
simultaneously elevate cooking and make cooking less intimidating. The recipes were clear,
extensively tested, and comprised of ingredients readily available in any American supermarket. She viewed cooking as an activity worthy of your time and intellectual energy by helping liberate the act of preparing food from the label of drudgery, claiming she “found cooking fascinating because it tested art and science." The culinary landscape of America was transformed by the influence of Julia Child.