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Julia Child’s Kitchen: The Design, Tools, Stories, and Legacy of an Iconic Space

Review: Julia Child’s Kitchen by Paula Johnson

If you are a fan of Julia Child, the legendary cookbook author and television personality, you will love this book by Paula Johnson, the Smithsonian curator who preserved Julia’s home kitchen for the National Museum of American History. Julia Child’s Kitchen is a fascinating and intimate look into the design, tools, stories, and legacy of Julia’s favorite place in the world, her kitchen, and how it influenced her cooking and our food culture.

What’s inside the book?

The book is divided into four main sections: The Kitchen, The Tools, The Stories, and The Legacy. Each section explores a different aspect of Julia’s kitchen and its significance in her life and work.

  • The Kitchen: This section describes the history and layout of Julia’s kitchen, from its origins in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to its relocation to the Smithsonian museum in Washington, D.C. It also explains how Julia designed and organized her kitchen to suit her needs and preferences, and how she used it as a workspace and a recipe-testing lab.
  • The Tools: This section showcases some of Julia’s favorite and most iconic kitchen gadgets, such as her stand mixer, her copper pots, her knives, her measuring cups, and her pegboard. It also reveals the stories behind these tools, how Julia acquired them, how she used them, and how they reflected her philosophy of cooking.
  • The Stories: This section shares some of the anecdotes and memories of Julia’s friends, family, colleagues, and students who cooked with her in her kitchen. It also illustrates how Julia’s kitchen was a place of joy, creativity, learning, and generosity, and how she welcomed and inspired many people with her passion and personality.
  • The Legacy: This section examines how Julia’s kitchen and cooking have influenced and shaped our food culture and history. It also discusses how Julia’s kitchen continues to attract and educate millions of visitors at the Smithsonian museum, and how it serves as a platform for exploring themes such as gender roles, domesticity, innovation, and tradition in the post-World War II era.

The book is enriched by many color photographs of Julia’s kitchen and tools, as well as archival images of Julia in action. It also features a foreword by Jacques Pépin, Julia’s longtime friend and collaborator, who shares his admiration and appreciation for Julia and her kitchen.

What’s the verdict?

Julia Child’s Kitchen is a wonderful and informative book that celebrates Julia’s legacy and honors her contribution to the culinary world. It is not only a book for Julia fans, but also for anyone who loves cooking, history, and culture. It is a book that invites you to enter Julia’s kitchen and discover the secrets, stories, and lessons that made her one of the most influential and beloved figures in food.

The book is well-written, engaging, and insightful, and it captures Julia’s spirit and voice. It is also beautifully designed and illustrated, and it makes a great gift for yourself or for someone you love. If you are looking for a book that will inspire you to cook, learn, and enjoy food, you should definitely get Julia Child’s Kitchen by Paula Johnson. It is a book that will make you feel like you are in Julia’s kitchen, and that is a very special place to be.

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