A traveling exhibition exploring Julia Child’s delicious journey through life is about to open at the Minnesota History Center, with a local cookbook sampler added to the menu.
Here are five things to know about “Julia Child: A Recipe for Life” and that Minnesota twist:
Blooming in Paris
This icon didn’t only master the art of French cooking that launched her into our American kitchens. Child, who died in 2004 at the age of 91, lived a life as varied as a charcuterie board, a life that included serving in the Office of Strategic Services, the United States’ first intelligence agency, during World War II. Besides serving her country, this is also when she met her husband, Paul Child.
The exhibit, produced by Flying Fish in collaboration with Napa Valley Museum, shares the details of those early years, beginning with her youth in Pasadena, Calif., growing up as Julia McWilliams, followed by college at Smith and the war years.
France, where Julia and Paul moved, came after the war. The timing of this development might surprise you.
“One of the things that I think that people probably don’t realize about her is that she’s in her early 40s when she discovers French cooking,” says Kate Roberts, senior exhibit developer for the Minnesota Historical Society. “People think of her as a lifelong gourmet but actually, it took her awhile to find her footing. I think that’s a great takeaway.”
A lunch to remember
Has a meal ever changed your life?
Child’s first lunch in France changed hers, thanks to the help of a Michelin guide, some good wine (not usually served for American lunches back then) and a menu she later described as the most exciting meal of her life.
The immersive displays in this exhibit include “experiencing” that meal — raw oysters with rye bread, a green salad with vinaigrette, a soft creamy cheese and a filet of Dover sole with a lemony butter sauce — with a projection system serving it up virtually on plates set at a simple table, a place “Reserved for Paul and Julia,” along with the story of that meal at La Couronne in Rouen retold on a screen, with audio.
‘Mastering the Art of French Cooking’
A large digital copy of “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” by Julia Child flips through its pages at the new “Julia Child: A Recipe for Life,” exhibit at the Minnesota History Center in St. Paul on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
A fun photo opp in this exhibit is the giant display of Child’s book, “Mastering the Art of French Cooking,” the first volume of which was published in 1961 with her French co-authors, Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle. It goes along with handwritten recipe drafts, letters and photos that tell the story of how the book was shaped.
“I think the exhibit does a very good job at explaining Julia’s influence,” Roberts says. “Because you know, Simone Beck was already writing cookbooks for the French market. But Julia was instrumental in saying, ‘No, we need ingredients that Americans can actually get and that aren’t too expensive; we need to really simplify the process and do them step-by-step.’”
As an example of illustrating that process in the days before YouTube: “Here’s a detail I did not know,” says Roberts. “Paul took photos of her doing the steps and then the illustrator used those photos to make illustrations in the book. I love that.”
‘Cook’ in Julia’s kitchen
“Mastering the Art of French Cooking” inspired more Americans to set aside their TV dinners to try and make classics like Boeuf Bourguignon and Quiche Lorraine.
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Child inspired us even more after making a French omelette during an appearance on a show on Boston’s public television station, WGBH. She was a natural, and with people asking for more cooking demonstrations, it led to her own series, “The French Chef.” As a television personality, you can probably recall her encouraging home cooks in that trilling voice of hers. The exhibit’s kitchen, a replica of her set kitchen for her television series, will be fun for kids as well as those of us who have been cooking for long enough to remember Child on TV.
Visitors can man the vintage television camera or pretend they’re cooking on camera at the stovetop while displayed in black and white on the screen. It’s meant to be fun, just like Child’s time in the kitchen.
“I think kids are going to have a blast with this,” Roberts said.
Settle in with a good (cook)book
A wall of Minnesota cookbooks at the new “Julia Child: A Recipe for Life,” exhibit at the Minnesota History Center. The exhibit opens Saturday, Sept. 27 and runs through May 31, 2026. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
The Minnesota ingredient in this exhibit begins when visitors arrive in the lounge area. Settle into the comfy seating with some of the Minnesota cookbooks on display, from a vintage “Betty Crocker’s Cooky Book” to Stephanie Hansen’s new title, “True North Cabin Cookbook Volume Two: Seasonal Recipes from a Cozy Kitchen.”
(Look for the titles published by the Minnesota Historical Society Press in the museum’s gift shop or at shop.mnhs.org).
Minnesota cooks
Iconic Minnesota cooking and kitchen products are on display in the Minnesota Cooks section. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
The Minnesota angle here isn’t limited to published authors, though. By walking into “Minnesota Cooks: Small Bites from the Collections,” visitors can view or virtually scroll through community cookbooks dating back to the 1800s — and one from 1971, “Hot Off the Range” by the Hibbing-Chisholm Chapter of Hadassah, which includes the recipe for fudge bars from Beatty Zimmerman Rutman … also known as Bob Dylan’s mom:
Melt together four squares of unsweetened chocolate and half a cup of butter or margarine. Add to four beaten egg yolks and two cups of sugar.
Mix together and add one cup flour, 1/2 cup of milk and one teaspoon vanilla. Fold in four egg whites beaten.
Put into a greased 13×9 pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes. Frost with chocolate frosting.
“I think the key thing about this is it’s 63 cookbooks, which sounds like a lot, but we actually have thousands in our collection, a little-known collection that is brought to life here,” Roberts says. “And what I think is really beautiful about it is how these cookbooks show cultural change. You can ask questions about who made them, who used them and you really get a sense of Minnesota culture through the lens of cooking.”
The public can also view other artifacts of our cooking culture here, including the Bundt pan, which of course is a Minnesota invention.
Julia Child exhibit
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“Julia Child: A Recipe for Life” opens Saturday and runs through May 31. Admission is free for members and with general admission ($15 for adults). More at mnhs.org/historycenter.
Related events:
• “Mastering the Art of French Cooking in Minnesota” on Oct. 22 ($75). Info/reservations at www3.mnhs.org/events/33379425968.
• “Power of the Press: Recipe Cards Workshop” on Nov. 13 (free). Register at www3.mnhs.org/events/33585376365.
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