Julia Child Quotes: Sayings From Chef, TV Personality In Honor Of Her Birthday

julia child tv show
In this photograph of a TV monitor, Julia Child's kitchen display is seen at the media preview at the Smithsonian National Museum Of American History on August 14, 2012, in Washington, D.C. Larry French/Getty Images

Julia Child was one of the first personalities to bring the art of cooking to the masses through television and her cookbooks. She's widely known for introducing French cuisine to the United States in an accessible way.

Child herself was introduced to French food during a six-year stint in France following World War II. While in Paris, she went to the Cordon Bleu school to learn to cook and also studied privately under world-renowned chefs.

By 1951, Child and two other women founded their own cooking school in France called "L'École des Trois Gourmandes" which translates roughly to the school of the gourmets. The National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., translates the school's name to "The School of the Three Hearty Eaters" and says it was started in 1952.

The museum also has Child's kitchen from her Cambridge, Massachusetts, home on display. She donated the kitchen to the museum in 2001, three years before her death. She and her husband moved into the home the kitchen was taken from in 1961 and she used it for many years thereafter, set up to her specifications.

Her show called The French Chef debuted on Boston Public Television in 1962, kicking off her career on screen. She later had a number of other shows and published several cookbooks along with other chefs. Her autobiography was used to help write the screenplay for the film about Child, written by Nora Ephron.

Child died in 2004 in Santa Barbara, California, a day before her 92nd birthday. She would have turned 106 on Wednesday.

Many of Child's most popular quotes come from her show during which she talked to her audience. Other notable quotes came from her many popular books.

"If you're afraid of butter, use cream!"

"This is my invariable advice to people: Learn how to cook—try new recipes, learn from your mistakes, be fearless, and above all have fun!" she wrote in her book, My Life in France.

"I enjoy cooking with wine, sometimes I even put it in the food."

"A party without cake is really just a meeting."

"You don't have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces - just good food from fresh ingredients."

"One of the secrets, and pleasures, of cooking is to learn to correct something if it goes awry; and one of the lessons is to grin and bear it if it cannot be fixed," she wrote in My Life in France.

Uncommon Knowledge

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

About the writer


Nina was a breaking news reporter. She previously worked at Business Insider, The Boston Globe, and Boston.com.

To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.

Newsweek cover
  • Newsweek magazine delivered to your door
  • Newsweek Voices: Diverse audio opinions
  • Enjoy ad-free browsing on Newsweek.com
  • Comment on articles
  • Newsweek app updates on-the-go
Newsweek cover
  • Newsweek Voices: Diverse audio opinions
  • Enjoy ad-free browsing on Newsweek.com
  • Comment on articles
  • Newsweek app updates on-the-go