A Timeless Trip Through Time
Julia Child was inarguably one of the
most influential culinary figures of the 20th century. And
if you'd like to argue, let me posit this question: how many people
do you know who have had their home kitchens enshrined at the
Smithsonian?
In an age before the current cult of
celebrity chefs, Julia's seminal Mastering the Art of French
Cooking had already made her a
star when she first appeared on television in 1962 doing a cooking
demo on how to prepare an omelette. Inspired by that success, her
first series, The French Chef, hit
the airwaves on Boston's WGBH on February 11, 1963. And history, both
culinary and media, were about to be made.
Julia lived near
Harvard University in a house at 103 Irving Street in Cambridge,
Massachusetts from 1961 until 2001. After putting up with flaws in
eight previous kitchens, Julia knew exactly how she wanted this one
to function. She mapped it all out and her husband, Paul, designed
the kitchen to meet her needs as a place where she could not only
cook for the home, but also research and develop her recipes. To that
end, he raised the maple counter tops in the kitchen by two inches to
accommodate Julia's towering 6' 2” height. He selected a light
blue-green paint for the room's overall color scheme. Covering the
walls with pegboard, Paul used a marker to outline all of Julia's
numerous pots and pans, ensuring that there was a place for
everything and that everything would be in its place. This
comfortable, efficient space would later serve as the setting for
three of Julia's TV shows. Discreet poles and brackets were added so
that appropriate lighting could be hung when the shows were filming.
When tape was rolling, the table and chairs made way for an island
equipped with a built-in cooktop and prep surface. Everything else in
the room was authentic Julia, right down to her wall oven with the
squeaky door.
Paul
Child died in 1994. A few years later, Julia decided to return to her
native California. In August 2001, representatives of the Smithsonian
Institution met with her to discuss the possibility of preserving
her iconic kitchen in the National Museum of American History. Her
former home near the Harvard campus still stands and is now a private
residence. But the kitchen was painstakingly removed and
reconstructed as a historic artifact currently on display on the
ground floor of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American
History: Kenneth E. Behring Center, located on the National Mall in
Washington, D.C. To be clear, the kitchen you see there is not a
museum replica. It is Julia's actual kitchen, complete with her
appliances, cookware, furnishings, and an endless number of her
favorite cooking tools and gadgets.
I was in Washington, D.C. recently and
paid a visit to Julia's kitchen. It was as amazing as I expected it
would be; a timeless trip through time. The 14 x 20 space, viewed
through three glass viewports placed in the actual door openings that
led to other rooms in the house, is like a wonderful time capsule.
Julia's pots and pans are outlined and hung on pegboard just as Paul
designed. There are no fancy curtains in Julia's kitchen, just simple
blinds, open for viewing from the outside now, but once providing a
look outward at tree-lined Irving Street. You can see an automatic
icemaker tucked away in one corner, a practical necessity for keeping
foods fresh during long taping sessions. Sixteen baking sheets rest
in vertical slots next to the dishwasher. Oils and vinegars live on a
countertop near the stove, with a variety of spices, teas, coffees,
and syrups in a cabinet above. Julia liked cats in her kitchen. Maybe
not real ones, but you'll see artistic representations of several
spotted around the room. Although she relied on the handier electric
wall-oven for her TV shows, her “big Garland” still dominates the
room. Purchased used for $429 from a Washington, D.C. restaurant and
shipped to Cambridge, the six-burner Garland commercial gas stove,
big enough to hold two 25-pound turkeys, stands in its place near the
main kitchen door. Look carefully and you'll see a handmade
needlework sign that depicts Julia's famous “Bon Appetit”
catchphrase displayed high on one wall. It was a gift
from a friend.
My wife particularly drooled over Julia's gleaming dark blue
KitchenAid stand mixer, displayed in its customary place on the
counter. A KitchenAid food processor is there, too. It's the one she
was using at the time of the Smithsonian's acquisition of her
kitchen, having gone through several previous makes and models,
including a French prototype of the Robot Coupe that she acquired in
the '60s. Her Cuisinart blender is nearby. There's a large butcher's
saw hanging on a wall and a huge cleaver, a personalized gift from
the WGBH-TV staff. And the mezzaluna hanging up there is......quite
impressive. I've got one, too, but it's nothing like that one. You'll
notice a unique painting of an artichoke on the wall above the
electric oven: it was done by a friend and was one of only two
paintings displayed in Julia's kitchen. This one's a reproduction.
The original went to Santa Barbara with Julia. Look at the bookcase
full of cookbooks. Among copies of her own books and various other
reference works, you can spot a copy of “The Joy of Cooking” by
Irma Rombauer. Julia kept a “To-Do List” on the counter next to
the phone, and yes, that's a lorgnette hanging on the wall above it.
Julia used it instead of reading glasses to read fine print.
Bon Appetit! Julia Child's Kitchen
at the Smithsonian serves as a centerpiece to the museum’s
ongoing Food: Transforming the American Table 1950 – 2000
exhibit. Surrounding the kitchen
are numerous signs and displays related to Julia's cooking, her
career, and her influence on America's food scene in general. Tapes
of one of her programs play on a continuous loop. There's even a
life-size cut-out of Julia with which you can pose for a photo-op.
(Need you ask? Of course I did.)
Also
in the exhibit are areas dedicated to “New and Improved!”
consumer goods; “Resetting the Table,” highlighting the
immense changes Americans have experienced in what and how they eat,
and in how they think and feel about food; and “Wine for the
Table,” a fascinating look at American viticulture.
As with all Smithsonian properties,
admission to the National Museum of American History is free. While
Julia's kitchen is a great attraction, don't miss other important
treasures housed at the museum, including Thomas Jefferson's desk,
George Washington's uniform, Edison's light bulb, Archie and Edith's
chairs from All In The Family, Dorothy's ruby slippers from
The Wizard of Oz, the Greensboro Lunch Counter, and, of
course, the Star-Spangled Banner. Allow yourself plenty of time to
explore and absorb everything. The museum is home to more than three
million artifacts. Going in with the idea that you can knock it out
before lunch will really lessen the experience.
The National Museum of American History
is located at 14th Street and Constitution Avenue NW in
Washington, DC. Open daily from 10 am to 5:30 pm, you can call the
museum at (202) 633-1000 or visit the website at
http://americanhistory.si.edu.
The museum offers quite a delicious
plateful. As Julia would say, “Bon appetit!”
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