Julia Child's The French Chef [electronic resource] / Dana Polan.

ISBN:

9780822393474

Title:

Author:

Polan, Dana.

Personal Author:

Polan, Dana.

Publication Information:

North Carolina : Duke University Press, 2011.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (314 p.)

Series:

Spin offs

General Note:

Description based upon print version of record.

Contents:

1. The Difference She Made; 2. Television Cookery B.C. (Before Child); 3. French Cuisine, American Style; 4. The Beginnings of The French Chef; 5. Prepping The French Chef; 6. The Success of The French Chef; 7. New Beginnings and the Ending to The French Chef; 8. Kitchen Drama.

Personal Subject:

Child, Julia.

Subject Term:

Television cooking shows -- United States.

Format:

Electronic Resources

Electronic Access:

Click here to view book

Publication Date:

2011

Publication Information:

North Carolina : Duke University Press, 2011.

Available:*

Shelf Number	Material Type	Copy	Shelf Location	Status
641.5944 POL	1:E-BOOK	1	1:ONLINE	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

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.

Author Notes

Dana Polan is Professor of Cinema Studies at New York University. He is the author of The Sopranos , also published by Duke University Press, and Scenes of Instruction: The Beginnings of the U.S. Study of Film .

Reviews (1)

Choice Review

As one of television's early chefs, Child has become an icon in culinary history. Many baby boomers grew up watching the charismatic, ebullient Child cook on television. The entertaining movie Julie and Julia (2009) educated viewers about this gifted chef. Polan (cinema studies, NYU) provides a brief biography of Child and her journey with her husband, Paul, from the US to Paris and back to the US, but he concentrates on her television show The French Chef. The author notes that Child believed cooking was to be enjoyed. The French-trained chef was highly entertaining. While watching Child's show, viewers had lessons in French cooking and learned to watch pedagogical television--and were at the same time entertained as the "funny, bubbly, and sometimes awkward" Child performed cooking demonstrations. Polan situates Child in the history of American cuisine and the history of television, the latter with particular reference to a genre of nonfictional, hosted television programs popular in the 1950s-60s, peopled by Jack LaLanne, John Zacherle, and Officer Joe Bolton. This is a fine chronicle of Child and the difference she made in American cookery, American television, and American culture. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals; general readers. R. Ray Mississippi State University