Julia Child: The Last Interview: and Other Conversations

Julia Child: The Last Interview and Other Conversations is a compilation of six different interviews through the years with Julia Child. She speaks about her success in the culinary field and her contributions to society, namely Planned Parenthood and the Democratic Party. The interviews start in 1961 and are completed with her last interview in 2004.
Her first cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, can be said to be the cookbook that sparked a profound change in the culinary field in America. With her book, families who relied on canned and packaged food and meals were able to prepare fancier–but according to Child, not necessarily more complicated–meals. Her audience would view her as a highly skilled chef, which she was, but Julia preferred to think of herself as a teacher, teaching others and helping them navigate the arena of cooking. Reading about Julia Child was interesting as I didn’t know too much about her before. She led a busy life and was able to help many people through the field of cooking, which wasn’t very big back in the 1950s. By helping the average housewife to cook more intricate dishes, Julia Child not only helped improve their meals, but I’m sure it improved their self-esteem as well.