Celebrating Julia Child |

August 15, 2012 is the 100th anniversary of Julia Child's birth. She was born in Pasadena, California and excelled in athletics, playing basketball, golf and tennis while attending Smith College.

At over 6 feet tall, Child did not meet the Army or Navy height requirements during World War II, so instead she joined the Office of Stategic Services which was responsible for intelligence operations. After two years in Washington, she was sent overseas to Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) and China where she worked with coded messages. It was while she was stationed in China that she first became interested in cuisine, having discovered a passion for Chinese food. While in Asia, she met her future husband Paul Child.

The couple moved to Paris in 1948, where Child attended Le Cordon Bleu cooking school. She offered cooking classes to American women at her home and wrote Mastering the Art of French Cooking with Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle. In 1963, she began hosting a television show, becoming one of the first celebrity chefs. She also produced a number of other books including a biography titled My Life in France.

Julia Child died of kidney failure in 2004, shortly before her 92nd birthday.