Julia Child helped change face of public TV, friend writes

Jasper White, a chef and longtime close friend of pubcasting icon Julia Child, has a nice remembrance of her in the Herald News of Fall River, Mass., to mark the anniversary of her Aug. 15 birth. In America, "the culinary arts were lagging way behind the others in the last half of the last century," he writes. "It took a catalyst to awaken America’s palate, to make the love of food an acceptable behavior and to raise expectations and standards of our cuisine. That catalyst was Julia Child." Through her shows on PBS, "she made education fun,"  he notes, adding that "changing the face of public television is also one of her great accomplishments." White often speaks at public events honoring Child (Current, June 21, 2009).