A Nightline Moment with Julia Child

Nov. 26, 2004 — -- I was a fan of Julia Child from the first moment I saw her on PBS in 1963. But it was my colleague Michel Martin who got to interview her just a couple of years ago. And we thought that no program about Thanksgiving and food would be complete without a word from Julia Child.

From Nightline Aug. 1, 2002:

MICHEL MARTIN: You always call yourself a cook and not a chef. What's the difference?

JULIA CHILD: Yes. Well, a chef is, is in a restaurant and he has a whole platoon of people working for him, him or her. The head of a culinary establishment. I'm a cook and a teacher. And an eater.

MARTIN: You became a celebrity. I mean, really, um, I think one of the few, uh, women celebrities who was not a singer, you know, or an actress or something of that sort. And how did you take to that? How did you feel about being a celebrity?

CHILD: No. It hasn't, it hasn't bothered me at all.

MARTIN: Have you enjoyed it?

CHILD: I've enjoyed it. I can usually get a, get a table in a restaurant, still, even thought I'm not on active television.

MARTIN: For forty years, as American's doyenne of high cuisine, Julia Child hasn't changed her philosophy on eating.

JACQUES PEPIN: ...proportion of fat...greater than the liquid...

MARTIN: Butter, of course, is a staple for her.

CHILD: Delicious, and that little bit of butter is what did it.

The late, great, Julia Child, as she appeared on Nightline in August of 2002.