TWO FAMOUS COOKING PERSONALITIES

HI! THERE ... As mentioned in the last post

 here is another text from one of my most improved

and hard working student, Mare-Denise.

I love the fact that MD decided on her own TOPIC!

I'm sure she worked very hard and at the same time,

 I'm sure that she enjoyed the research and the writing.

In doing so,  she has given us some great historic info 

about these ladies, pioneers and legendary women!...

that we might have otherwise missed. THANKS!

I have added  some images 

SUZANNE

Two Famous Cooking Personalities

By Marie-Denise Lapointe

I love cooking meals and I am also very interested in nutrition and by the history of cooking.   I enjoy reading about famous cooking personalities. Today I’m going to talk about two important ladies who have influenced cooking in North America.

In Québec, Jehane Benoît who was born in Westmount, Montréal, in 1904. And in the United States, Julia Child who was born in Pasadena, California in 1912. In 1920 Jehane Benoît went to study at the cooking school “Le Cordon Bleu” in Paris.  She was sixteen years old.  She was very young for this trip; she went with her mother. 

On the other hand, Julia Child in 1948 discovered Paris with her husband Paul Child.  He was working for the United States Information Agency. Child with her husband discovered French cuisine and it was, for her, a culinary revelation. She also studied at “Le Cordon Bleu”.  She then went on, with her friends, to write  a French cookbook for Americans women.

Jehane Benoît not only studied French “cuisine” in Paris. She also studied chemistry, nutrition, cooking techniques and methods.  At age 20, she came back to Montréal  and she opened a bilingual cooking school.   Later she would open the first vegetarian restaurant, le “Salad Bar”.

In 1951 Julia Child with two of her friends opened a cooking school called  “L’école des trois gourmandes” for American women living in Paris. Jehane Benoît and Julia Child were determined ladies.  For their time, they didn’t follow the rules and what was expected of them.

Jehane Benoît was married at 22 but she didn’t stay  many years  with her husband.  She lived at her school with her daughter, Monique.  In 1940 she fell in love  at first sight with Bernard Benoît who was 13 years younger than her. They lived together and they bought a farm in Sutton.  She got married in 1964 after the death of  her first husband.  

In the sixties Jehane Benoît and Julia Child, both had TV shows on cooking.  Mrs. Benoît was on French and English television. They both wrote an encyclopedia of cooking as well. Mrs. Benoît and Mrs. Child were pioneers in their field. Jehane Benoît died at 83, in 1987 and Julia Child died more recently at 92 years old, in 2004.

I learned about Julia Child in 2010 when I went to the cinema to see the movie “Julie and Julia”.  I loved Julia Child’s enthusiasm, passion and pleasure she had for cooking.  

I got to know Jehane Benoît through my mother who watched her TV cooking shows. She bought her “Encyclopédie de la cuisine canadienne”, which came in sections regularly at the grocery store.

  

Today I have talked to you about two ladies that I admire greatly. Both wanted to  ex-plain cooking so that people learned about nutrition as well as the quality and taste of food.

NOTE: You can watch Julia Child TV shows (1991) 

on PBS (Vermont Public Television) every Saturday, at 1:00 PM

 OR, video-clips at PBS.org Have a look!