Julia Child Exhibit

"A recipe is much more than ingredients and instructions. It can impart a hidden history, provide tethers to forgotten tables, ignite curiosity and the thrill of creating something so delicious it must be shared." Julia Child

There are the titans of recipe writing, and then there are the quiet names of those (mostly women) who used recipes to shore up their communities and extend the knowledge built inside their home kitchens. And both are on display at two new Minnesota History Center exhibits — "Julia Child: A Recipe for Life" and “Minnesota Cooks: Small Bites from the Collections” — opening Sept. 27, 2025, to May 31, 2026.

The exhibits, two years in the making, celebrate and examine Julia Child’s legacy and the wealth of culinary history found in Minnesota. The above display shows the many famous cookbooks published by Minnesota chefs and cooks.  

Julia Child's biggest contribution was introducing sophisticated, approachable French cuisine to a broad American audience, transforming home cooking by making it a pleasurable, artful activity through her groundbreaking cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and popular television show, The French Chef. She broke down complex techniques into manageable steps, encouraged the use of fresh, high-quality ingredients, and her honest, humorous, and encouraging on-screen personality made French cooking less intimidating and more accessible for everyday home cooks.

A replica of the table at La Couronne, where Julia Child had the inspirational French meal that launched her interest in French cuisine, is part of the new exhibit at the Minnesota History Center in St. Paul.

The exhibit re-creates the moment with a table, set like dinner at La Couronne in Rouen, France. The sounds of service, including a waiter’s voice, play overhead as each course is projected onto white plates: oysters, baguette, salad, and sole meunière. This buttery spark of passion and curiosity would send Julia to culinary school and inspire her with a deep desire to take what she learned and share it with home cooks.

Julia's personal collection of pots and pans. 

Julia and her husband, Paul Child, were a team. He was instrumental in Julia Child's success by acting as a dedicated partner, editor, and manager who supported her culinary journey from its inception, a role he had already assumed even before she became famous. He helped manage her career, handled tasks such as editing and photography, and even designed a custom kitchen to accommodate her height. Julia credited Paul with being the "man who is always there," and she felt a strong obligation to support him as well.

If you are in the Twin Cities, be sure to check out these two interactive and fascinating exhibits. They feature the Minnesota food scene and profiles of famous chefs and cookbook authors, as well as an exploration of the culinary genius of Julia Child. 

 

Some interesting random facts about Julia Child 

• It took Child nine years to finish her first — and most famous — cookbook, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking."
• The first dish Julia Child cooked on screen was an omelet.
• Julia Child's signature dishes include beef bourguignon, French onion soup, and coq au vin.
• Child famously loved butter — during the filming of her "Baking with Julia" series, she used a total of 753 pounds of butter in her dishes. 
• Child starred in eight television cooking series and published 11 cookbooks. For 40 years, she was considered America's leading chef and one of the first-ever celebrity chefs.
• In 1993, Julia Child became the first woman inducted into the Culinary Institute of America's Hall of Fame. 
• Child's last meal before she passed away was homemade French onion soup. 
• The kitchen from her Cambridge, Massachusetts, home was deconstructed and moved to the museum in 2001, three years before Child's death. Visitors to the museum can take photos of the cheerful kitchen, which the chef called the "beating heart and social center of her household."

Some thoughtful quotes of Julia Child's most famous and iconic catchphrase is "With enough butter, anything is good". She also had several other notable quotes and recurring phrases, such as "Bon appétit!" at the end of her show, and her encouraging advice to "Have a what-the-hell attitude" in the kitchen. "People who love to eat are always the best people."