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  • Julia Child's: The French Chef

  • Spin Offs
  • By: Dana Polan
  • Narrated by: Tina Smith
  • Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins

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Julia Child's: The French Chef

By: Dana Polan
Narrated by: Tina Smith
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Publisher's summary

Julia Childs'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 Childs 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 televisions 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 Childs unique personality and captivating on-air presence.

The book is published by Duke University Press. The audiobook is published by University Press Audiobooks.

©2011 Duke University Press (P)2024 Redwood Audiobooks

Critic reviews

Fascinating...Contributes much to the growing literature on American food history. (New York Journal of Books)

A fascinating new perspective on Child and her on-air persona. (Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture)

Thoroughly researched and wonderfully illuminating... (Foreword Reviews)

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