August 25, 2022
Julia Child: WW2 Spy Who Created Shark Repellent Cakes | The Fantastic History Of Food with Nick Charlie Key
Check out The Fantastic History Of Food Podcast Episode Page
Intro
- Julia Child was an American cooking teacher, author, television personality, and apparently, a WW2 spy that invented shark repellent cake—follow along as Nick Charlie Key tells the strange but true story
- Host: Nick Charlie Key (@nickcharliekey)
Who is Julia Child?
- “I’m sadly an ordinary person, with talents I do not use” – Nick Charlie Key quoting Julia Child
- Had no need for money or influence because she was born into an affluent family
- WW2 had broken out and she wanted to make herself useful to the cause—began volunteering at the Pasadena California chapter of the Red Cross
- Started to take the minutes for meetings (stenography)
- Tried to apply for military combat roles, but her unusual height made her ineligible
- Became a typist for the “office of war information” in Washington DC, which then led her to join the Office of Strategic Services (now known as the CIA)
- She then joined the Emergency Sea Rescue team of the Navy—where she learned that sharks were a big problem for navel operations
- In the first three years of the war, there were about 20 shark attack cases against overboard sailors and downed pilots
- The media created a fear narrative around sharks – “Families back home began to fear sharks almost as much as they feared the Nazis” – Nick Charlie Key
Shark Repellent Cakes
- Julia concocted small cakes made of copper acetate mixed with black dye – the closest thing they could produce to imitate the smell of a dead shark
- More effective than actually using dead shark flesh
- Cakes were attached to sailors’ vests and were used if stranded in the open water
- Even if it wasn’t as effective as advertised, at least it provided a calming placebo effect that inspired a greater hope for survival
- Sharks also had a tendency to get too nosy around sea mines (which resulted in a quick fate)
- So the navy coated the mines in the cake substance to prevent this
- Julia was given the Meritorious Civilian Service Award for her efforts in the war
- But more importantly – “She left behind all her feelings of inadequacy and normalcy and built creativity and confidence in abundance” – Nick Charlie Key
The Queen of French Cuisine
- Because of her affluent upbringing, she realized she had never developed basic cooking skills
- Fell in love with French cuisine
- Enrolled at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris
- “On her first day of school, all she knew was how to boil the water for a cup of tea” – Nick Charlie Key
- A women’s cooking club asked Julia to be the American consultant for a French cookbook aimed at an American audience
- However, she couldn’t just watch from the sidelines. She contributed her own French recipes too.
- After 10 years, the book was finally published (America had picked up a large interest in French cuisine)
- Julia became a cooking icon—recording 199 episodes of “The French Chef“
- You may also recognize her name from the movie Julie & Julia, where Meryl Streep portrayed Julia Child
- Or from one of her many cookbooks
- Flavor > Health
- Julia was notorious for her excessive use of butter
