French Cuisine

The renown chef and public television star, who died in 2004, spoke to Fresh Air in 1989 about the food she ate as a child in Pasadena, Calif. Child is the subject of the new documentary, Julia.

The TV star and educator talks about her early days in food, her training and teaching in France, and how anyone can learn to cook and eat well.

World-renowned master chef Julia Child died Thursday at the age of 91. She spent three decades explaining the mysteries of classic French cuisine to modern American audiences. Child hosted several cooking shows on public television, earning Peabody and Emmy Awards in the process, and wrote nine cookbooks.

Cooking expert Madeleine Kamman. She authored "The Making of a Cook" in 1971, and just updated her work to write "The New Making of a Cook: The Art, Techniques, and Science of Good Cooking" (William Morrow). Both of her books aim to show American cooks how to prepare their own ingredients with French culinary techniques. Kamman is also a PBS cooking show host and director of the School for American Chefs.

Master chef Georges Perrier of the nationally renowned Philadelphia French restaurant, Le Bec-Fin. He has revealed many of his recipes in his first cookbook, "Georges Perrier Le Bec-Fin Recipes" (Running Press).

The French Chef, Julia Child. She spent three decades explaining the mysteries of classic French cuisine to modern American audiences. Child has hosted several cooking shows on Public Television, earning Peabody and Emmy Awards in the process, and written several cookboks. Her new book, is titled "The Way to Cook." It's a 50-dollar tome that...in Child's words...tells "everything [I] know about the essentials of cooking today."

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews "Babette's Feast," a Danish film based on a story by Isaak Dennison. The film won the Oscar this year for Best Foreign Film.