Julia Child is the undisputed star of The Food Network limited series, The Julia Kind Challenge. However, she shared the limelight with her husband Paul Child when they first met in the mid-1940s. Paul was the more urbane of the two, having served first in France as a teacher abroad, followed by a post with the United States government in the Office of Strategic Services. A willing Julia learned about the world and French gastronomy through Paul’s classes. She led a family member to compare their romance to the film my beautiful ladycompares Julia to the character of Eliza Doolittle.
How did Julia and Paul Child meet?
Julia and Paul Child met after she joined the Office of Strategic Services, the United States intelligence agency, during World War II. After a brief stay in Washington, DC, Julia made her way to Sri Lanka, where she met Paul, ten years her senior.
At that time Paul was not impressed by Julia. He wrote to his twin brother Charlie that he had met a woman but didn’t seem to have much positive things to say about Julia.
He described Julia as “an extremely sloppy thinker” with “an ugly blonde mustache” who “can’t hold ideas for long,” he reported The LA Times.
But while Paul admired Julia’s vitality, their love story as friends began. They visited local food markets and learned more from each other
Paul later wrote to Charlie: “It wasn’t like lightning struck the burning barn. I just started thinking, ‘God, that’s one hell of a nice woman.'”
Julia’s nephew said Julia and Paul’s relationship mirrored Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins from My Fair Lady
After the US government stationed Paul in Paris, France in 1948, Julia got her first taste of life in the City of Lights. After disembarking from the boat that took them to France, Julia and Paul packed up their car and drove to their new home, but not before stopping for lunch and changing Julia’s life.
Paul took Julia to La Couronne for lunch, where they ate Meal she described as the most important of her lifeSole Meuniere, which changed her view of French cuisine.
“I often compare their relationship to that my beautiful lady. She’s the willing student like Eliza Doolittle, and he’s the sophisticated older man like Henry Higgins, tutoring her in culture, art and politics,” Alex Prud’homme, Julia’s grandnephew, told the LA Times.
“Paul was the leader of their relationship for the first half, and when he retired, it all turned around. It was very intentional. He described himself as the iceberg underwater where you can see the tip, but he plays this massive role as ballast. You can’t have one without the other.”
Julia and Paul would work together personally and professionally
Julia and Paul Child would work together both personally and professionally.
She always credited Paul as the one responsible for all of her success.
to Smithsonian Magazinefood writer Ruth Reichl spoke about the couple’s mutual success in transforming America’s culinary landscape.
Reichl said Julia once told her Paul was “responsible for everything I did.”
Paul photographed close-ups of Julia’s hands as she cut, diced and sliced into culinary history.
These images were translated into line art by illustrator Sidonie Coryn for Julia’s history-making cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking.
Julia presented recipes as presented Beef Bourguignon American housewives in this cookbook.
He also designed Juliet’s kitchen, raising the countertops to accommodate her 6ft 2in frame and developing a pegboard with outlines. So she knew where every pot, pan, knife, and utensil belonged in her kitchen. He also arranged Julia’s knives on magnetic strips so she could grab one without having to search in a drawer.
Up to this point in their union, Paul’s military career dominated their lives. Julia followed him from one State Department post to the next.
After Julia’s cookbook success, the two swapped roles. Paul threw himself into her life with the same enthusiasm she shared his.
She would star in the PBS series The French chefwhere she became a household name and a culinary trendsetter.
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https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/julia-child-husband-paul-my-fair-lady-romance-eliza-doolittle.html/ Julia Child and husband Paul had a ‘My Fair Lady’ romance: ‘She was Eliza Doolittle’