“Raising the Bar: The French chef, Housewives, and ‘Real Cooks'”

In its 2005 Super Bowl commercial, McDonald’s presented the Quarter Pounder with Cheese as an “hors d’oeuvre,” a tongue-in-cheek appropriation of French exquisiteness in food culture. It built on the democratization of gourmet cuisine in the U.S., which had its breakthrough more than forty years earlier in a cooking show on a local public television station in Boston. The French Chef and its host and creator, Julia Child, had sought to elevate food culture by appealing to an interest in participating in the distinguished esteem of French food. To raise awareness of technique and ingredients, Child invested even more in an engaging and encouraging pedagogy that became famous for its humor and entertainment, attracting a huge crowd of viewers with or without an interest in cooking. Child’s elevation of home cooking standards was criticized in feminist discussions as an additional burden on housewives. At the same time, The French Chef brought new attention to home cooking, presented the kitchen as a place of serious work, and finally opened up access to professional cooking to women who had rarely been admitted to culinary academies before.

This talk will consider the roles of feminist critique, unacknowledged labor, transnational exchange, and media technology in The French Chef, illustrating that the success of The French Chef was due in no small part to the conceptual and technical innovations of its media production which supported Child’s communicative and performative talents. Acting as a bar, the kitchen counter supported Child’s engaging style of addressing the audience not only collectively but also individually. Equipped with an invisible mirror that improved audience participation, the kitchen counter became part of the new cooking show apparatus.