Comments on: Julia Child, Superspy

Julia Child, Superspy

mynameisluka — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 20:55:12 -0800

Julia Child apparently liked to mix cooking and covert operations. What did the beloved chef have in common with Arthur Schlesinger and baseball's Moe Berg? A career with the OSS, that's what. The CIA precursor's papers have recently been released, revealing Child's involvement in the agency.

Unfortunately, Julia's secret service could not be mentioned in her autobiography, My Life in France, which is currently being adapted into a movie starring Meryl Streep.

By: sir_rubixalot

sir_rubixalot — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 21:01:42 -0800

That's impressive, I'm not even mad!

By: device55

device55 — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 21:15:24 -0800

(her Birthday is on Friday. Raise a glass, smother something in butter.)

By: hortense

hortense — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 21:17:42 -0800

Oh So Social

By: b1tr0t

b1tr0t — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 21:22:06 -0800

Not much of a story here. Wikipedia has known that Mrs. Child was a spy for a while. The AP article says little more than that she did work for the OSS. Hopefully the declassified documents will give the recipe for shark repellent she developed.

By: middleclasstool

middleclasstool — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 21:30:19 -0800

This is wonderful. This makes me want to rewatch her cooking shows all over again to look for covert signals. "Put it in a 350 degree oven" could well mean "Gerry has our Berlin operative," after all.

By: pyramid termite

pyramid termite — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 21:30:25 -0800

well, let's face it - she had to keep the bugs out of her kitchen somehow

By: padraigin

padraigin — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 21:47:12 -0800

smother something in butter I planted a variety of rose in my front yard last year called "Julia Child". They're butter-colored.

By: loquacious

loquacious — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 21:54:15 -0800

*coats his entire body in butter* What? Am I not delicious? I mean, look at me. I'm covered in butter.

By: librarina

librarina — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 21:55:42 -0800

My Life in France and Julie & Julia (your "a movie" link) are totally different works, actually. Julie/Julia is the one that's being made into a movie with Meryl Streep. No such luck with My Life in France, though it wouldn't really be the same with anyone but Julia herself. And My Life in France did discuss, in no uncertain terms, her work with the OSS, though perhaps these new documents will tell us more about what she did there? She didn't mention that in the book, it's true; I'm definitely curious to know more. They have a bunch of the old The French Chef shows, from way back, on Netflix. I think they start in Season 2, where she was working in a borrowed kitchen (from the power company? I don't remember) and everything was still black and white. The mister and I watched it a while back, including the omelette episode. She made, I think, a cheese omelette? by putting butter in the pan, and then the eggs, and then the cheese, and folding; then plating, and then she said, now you sprinkle some cheese, as she did so. And the mister and I said, simultaneously and jokingly, "and now you drizzle butter!" and then Julia picked up a PAN OF MELTED BUTTER WITH A SPOON IN IT, and said "and now you drizzle some butter over your cheese omelette" and proceeded to ladle at least two tablespoons of melted butter over this omelette made of like five eggs and stuffed AND topped with cheese. I miss that lady.

By: mynameisluka

mynameisluka — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 22:02:51 -0800

Crap, librarina, I got mired down in links and forgot to include the Julie and Julia distinction/link! Thanks for pointing that out.

By: Class Goat

Class Goat — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 22:04:35 -0800

She must have been doing something right; she made it to age 91.

By: AsYouKnow Bob

AsYouKnow Bob — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 22:14:48 -0800

The one thing I know about Julia Child is that she met her husband in Ceylon while working for the OSS in WWII. (I have no idea how I know this, but I heard about it back when she was still on TV.) So, I think this is more "confirms" rather than "reveals".

By: infini

infini — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 22:16:56 -0800

secret ingredient

By: spiderwire

spiderwire — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 22:31:03 -0800

This claim sounds half-baked to me. The CIA cooks up all sorts of schemes, and this clearly isn't one of them. It's lacking a certain dash of credibility, you know? Spreading rumors like this is a recipe for disaster.

By: orthogonality

orthogonality — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 22:31:47 -0800

middleclasstool writes "'Gerry has our Berlin operative,'" Oddly enough, it's spelled "Jerry" if it's Brit slang for "German"

By: spiderwire

spiderwire — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 22:36:15 -0800

I mean, I'm not saying that she wouldn't rise to the occasion, but doesn't anyone else think that this story has all the ingredients of a biographer trying to spice up the tale to make it easier for mass consumption?

By: scody

scody — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 22:58:27 -0800

spiderwire, I don't know if anyone's going to bite.

By: peeedro

peeedro — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 23:04:42 -0800

I caught the cooking bug from a guy named Bruce. I rented a room from him for a couple of years when I first set off on my own. A great cook, he told me he started cooking while in grad school living in an apartment 1000 miles away from his family furnished with milk crates, cinderbocks, and 2x4's. One night, while sitting on the floor hungry, Julia Child came on the television. He watched her show and thought, "if this broad can do all that, I bet I manage to cook myself a decent meal for myself." He rolled up his sleeves and gave it a try, and then kept at it. While it sounds corny, honesty anytime I hold a chef knife or turn on a broiler I'm aware that most of my knowledge and technique came from a couple of PBS shows and Mastering the Art of French Cooking. So here's to Julia Child! Let her name bring happiness and satisfaction to the hungry and those who aspire to feed them.

By: device55

device55 — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 23:11:28 -0800

Amen
Sorry Alton

By: longsleeves

longsleeves — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 23:26:51 -0800

Yes, it has been common knowledge that Julia and her husband were with the OSS during WWII. Here she is hiding in plain sight, about to attack.

By: justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow

justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 23:28:45 -0800

smother something in butter Julia Child did just that to an Italian double agent in 1942.

By: dirtynumbangelboy

dirtynumbangelboy — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 23:52:42 -0800

She was a hell of a chef. I remember seeing a clip of her dropping a whole cooked chicken on the floor during a show. She picked it up, dusted it off, and said "That's what you'd do at home anyway," or words to that effect. Plus, hey, butter.

By: CCBC

CCBC — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 23:53:36 -0800

Julia met Paul in Asia while both were working for the OSS. That's been common knowledge for a long time. She says that she was basically a file clerk. Who knows? After the War, she was in France learning to cook and Paul had some vaguely defined job with the US Embassy there that involved taking a lot of photos. It's not clear to me that Julia kept spying during these years but I bet Paul did. A little while before she died, I saw Julia Child on Charlie Rose. She tried to express her huge excitement and enthusiasm during the War years and how everything after was just not quite so much fun. She tried to get Charlie Rose to admit some degree of excitement over involvement in great events, too. "Vietnam?" she asked. Charlie sadly shook his head.

By: amyms

amyms — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 23:55:14 -0800

Upon reading the news of Julia's covert past, I got a mish-mashed visual image in my brain of Dan Aykroyd doing his Julia Child skit while wearing his "Spies Like Us" outfit.

By: Marisa Stole the Precious Thing

Marisa Stole the Precious Thing — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:01:35 -0800

Upon reading the news of Julia's covert past, I got a mish-mashed visual image in my brain of Dan Aykroyd doing his Julia Child skit while wearing his "Spies Like Us" outfit. "Just a dollop of sherry ... and a little for me ..."

By: PenDevil

PenDevil — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:26:42 -0800

Not as badass as Dr Ruth, Israeli Sniper.

By: dirtynumbangelboy

dirtynumbangelboy — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:45:11 -0800

I met her randomly last summer. She's pocket-sized!

By: longdaysjourney

longdaysjourney — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 02:45:07 -0800

"Whole cooked chicken": the secret code for potato pancake.

By: iviken

iviken — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 02:57:10 -0800

I remember seeing a clip of her dropping a whole cooked chicken on the floor during a show. She picked it up, dusted it off, and said "That's what you'd do at home anyway," or words to that effect. Snopes says that the chicken (or turkey) incident never happened.

By: SteveInMaine

SteveInMaine — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 03:48:40 -0800

Unfortunately, Julia's secret service could not be mentioned in her autobiography, My Life in France... Odd that this article from 2003, a year or so before her autobiography was started, described in some detail Julia Child's OSS career.

By: jonp72

jonp72 — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 05:15:54 -0800

Not much of a story here. Wikipedia has known that Mrs. Child was a spy for a while. Yeah, I'm from the DC area. This fact is even mentioned in advertisements I see on the Metro for the International Spy Museum.

By: StickyCarpet

StickyCarpet — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 05:42:12 -0800

Snopes says that the chicken (or turkey) incident never happened. I have a memory of her dropping something or other, picking it up, and saying "it's your kitchen, you can do whatever you want."

By: briank

briank — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 05:44:43 -0800

The 1999 Child biography "Appetite For Life" talks about Julia and Paul's time together in Ceylon in some detail. She called herself a "file clerk", but apparently she was more of a paymaster. I agree completely with CCBC that Paul Child continued spying when they were in France. He was a "cultural attache" responsible for putting on pro-US cultural programs throughout Europe. If that isn't a cover job for a spy, I don't know what is.

By: mothershock

mothershock — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 05:46:48 -0800

I wrote about unlikely spies for the Daring Book For Girls, and Julia Child's life as a spy was definitely the biggest surprise for me (other than discovering that Girl Guides were used as spies).

By: cowbellemoo

cowbellemoo — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 06:27:06 -0800

Quantum of Nutmeg

By: StickyCarpet

StickyCarpet — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 07:14:19 -0800

Neil Coward was a spy too. I can see them spying together and having a grand old time.

By: dirtynumbangelboy

dirtynumbangelboy — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 07:25:13 -0800

A gay old time, surely?

By: briank

briank — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 07:26:10 -0800

My Life in France and Julie & Julia (your "a movie" link) are totally different works, actually. Julie/Julia is the one that's being made into a movie with Meryl Streep. No such luck with My Life in France, though it wouldn't really be the same with anyone but Julia herself. They are indeed different works, but are being combined into one for the Meryl Streep film, with the action cutting between Amy Adams as Julie the food blogger-cum-author and Streep as Julia in post-war Paris. Seems like they couldn't get a whole movie's worth out of either book, so they just mashed them together.

By: edgeways

edgeways — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 07:28:46 -0800

I've known Child was associated with the spy game... Did you know Dr. Ruth was a sharpshooter for proto-Israeli?

By: nax

nax — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 08:49:33 -0800

Old news. Where have you been.

By: dellsolace

dellsolace — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 08:56:45 -0800

This book, apparently originally published in 1988 and reissued in 1998 (maybe Amazon has the dates wrong on one of those?) has at least some stories about Julia in WWII with the O.S.S. Also, lots of interesting stories about other women spies, if you like that kind of thing. Doesn't seem like this is really news in the sense of being, uh, new.

By: scalefree

scalefree — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 09:22:39 -0800

You never know about people. I just found out that an elderly cousin of mine worked on Enigma for the Navy in WW2.

By: Zambrano

Zambrano — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 09:30:39 -0800

Old.

By: padraigin

padraigin — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 09:41:14 -0800

They are indeed different works, but are being combined into one for the Meryl Streep film, with the action cutting between Amy Adams as Julie the food blogger-cum-author and Streep as Julia in post-war Paris. Seems like they couldn't get a whole movie's worth out of either book, so they just mashed them together. That's actually how the book Julie & Julia was formatted. They may have used "My Life in France" as source material too, but Julie Powell's book intersperses scenes of Julia Child's life, meeting Paul Child, their romance, their days in Paris as she took up cooking, with her own story of taking on the cooking/blogging project.

By: formless

formless — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 10:18:32 -0800

Snopes says that the chicken (or turkey) incident never happened. I have a memory of her dropping something or other, picking it up, and saying "it's your kitchen, you can do whatever you want." No doubt this false memory was implanted by Mrs. Child as part of her work for the OSS, some sort of early form of CIA mind control. Anyone who remembers this event is obviously a sleeper agent, awaiting the trigger to activate their programming. Bon appétit!

By: Mental Wimp

Mental Wimp — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 13:24:40 -0800

I remember seeing a clip of her dropping a whole cooked chicken on the floor during a show. She picked it up, dusted it off, and said "That's what you'd do at home anyway," or words to that effect. Snopes says that the chicken (or turkey) incident never happened. The OSS can make video clips disappear, you know. So, just sayin'...