Julia Child inspires Google to cook up Doodle

15 Aug 2012

The Googld Doodle that honours chef, author, and TV personality Julia Child

Internet search giant Google is paying tribute to American chef, author, and TV personality Julia Child on the 100th anniversary of her birth with a Doodle on its homepage.

The stylised Google logo on Google’s homepage depicts a cartoon Child in a kitchen, cooking away, while pots and plates of food form the letters in the word ‘Google’.

Child is best known for introducing French cuisine to the American public via her first cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking (published in 1961), and her TV programmes, most notably The French Chef, which premiered in 1963.

Child was born Julia Carolyn McWilliams on 15 August 1912 in Pasadena, California. She didn’t start her career in cookery, in fact, she worked for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the US intelligence agency that served as a precursor to the CIA, during World War II. A fellow OSS employee, poet, artist, photographer and gourmet Paul Cushing Child, married Child and reportedly introduced her to fine cuisine. That love of fine cuisine flourished when the couple moved to France upon Paul being posted there in 1948.

Child picked up various broadcasting awards throughout her career, and in 2009, actress Meryl Streep portrayed her in the film Julie & Julia.

Child died of kidney failure in Montecito, California, on 13 August 2004.

Tina Costanza was a journalist and sub-editor at Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com