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Outlook: The cookbook that became a lifeline

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The cookbook that became a lifeline

03/06/2020 GMT

BBC World Service - Outlook, The cookbook that became a lifeline

How the eccentric but pioneering chef Julia Child became a role model for Julie Powell

Julie Powell was suffering from depression when she turned to the work of iconic TV chef, Julia Child. She then vowed to master her heroine’s most famous recipes in one year.

From a young age, Julie Powell had been enthralled by a book in her mother’s pantry: Mastering the Art of French Cooking. It was co-authored by one of America’s culinary titans - the eccentric but pioneering TV chef, Julia Child. Years later when Julie was working as a secretary and suffering from depression, she returned to Julia Child’s book, but this time she decided she was going to master its recipes - all 524 of them, and she would do it in a single year. Her fridge soon became packed with endless leftovers, as she methodically worked her way through Child's great canon. It was a project that puzzled some, including her mother, but before long she and her project had legions of passionate followers. Would Julia Child herself be one of them? Julie shares her story with Outlook's Emily Webb. 

Also on the programme,  the remarkable story of Ben McMahon who found a career in Chinese reality TV after a car crash left him unable to speak his native English. Waking from the coma, he could only speak Mandarin.

Picture: Julia Child holding a large fish
Credit: Alamy, Granger Historical Picture Archive.

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