Woman of Substance: Julia Child

Ingredients:

• A love of French cooking.
• Six months of training at France’s prestigious Cordon Bleu
• The determination to bring sophisticated French cooking to mainstream America
• A down-to-earth approach and unreserved sense of humor

Yields:

• The two-volume, 800-page “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” — considered the definitive culinary tome
• “The French Chef” – the award-winning TV series
• Induction into the Culinary Hall of Fame
• A home in the Smithsonian

Variations:

• Dan Akroyd’s hilarious “Saturday Night Live” take-offs
• Julie Powell’s wonderful “Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously,” a memoir in which the appealing writer creates all 524 recipes in Julia Child’s classic book. Meryl Streep will star as Julia in the movie next year.