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TV-cooking-show- and good-food-pioneer Julia Child would have turned 100 this summer. In honor of Radcliffe's daylong Julia Child symposium, Ruth Graham, writes for the Boston Globe's Brainiac blog about how Julia Child set up her now-famous TV kitchen. As Graham reveals, the kitchen had "French and Scandinavian art and stylish appliances that belied its humble location: The very first episodes of The French Chef were filmed in a spare room at the Boston Gas Company after a fire at the local public television station."

As someone perpetually preparing food in a tiny, under-stocked space, I found this revelation to be quite refreshing: Even Julia Child had to fake it sometimes! Design Research's Jane Thompson describes how they set up the studio kitchen, and why it was so significant: "What [Julia Child] was doing was sort of modern living demonstration of the big symbolic thing, which was [meals going directly] from the stove to the table. We didn’t have servants anymore...we’re not living in the old elegant way."

But we can be living in the new elegant way, thanks to Child -- even if our kitchens are less than perfect.  Read the whole post for more, including the unexpected significance of pepper.

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Finding Your Inner Julia Child
Julie Powell's Favorite Kitchen Tools