Special Collections

The GBH Cooking Collection

This collection presents the first 31 years of cooking programs produced and broadcast by WGBH beginning with The French Chef in 1962 up until 1993. WGBH was an early adaptor of cooking programs, which fit neatly into the category of "instructional television". The first local cooking program was proposed by Julia Child in 1962 who suggested The French Chef to WGBH management. That program became a runaway hit and was quickly expanded from local to national broadcast and spawned numerous successors.

Joyce Chen Cooks was the next cooking show which was produced starting in 1966. From 1966-1975, WGBH produced Theonie on Greek Island Cooking, The Romagnolis’ Table, and Beatrice Trum Hunter’s Natural Foods which featured short inter-program segments. From 1978-1980, Julia Child "returned" to public television with Julia Child and Company, and Julia Child and More Company. The next Julia Child series, Dinner at Julia’s aired from 1983-1984. In addition, WGBH produced several one-off specials, such as Joyce Chen’s China, Theonie’s Greek Easter and Holiday Entertaining with Martha Stewart. The last WGBH series to air during this early period was Cooks Tour in 1993. Like The French Chef, all these programs first aired locally and then were distributed nationally on public television.

Over 100 episodes of The French Chef can be seen on the official Julia Child on PBS YouTube channel. Dinner at Julia’s can be seen as part of the PBS Living channel on Amazon Prime. Most other programs in this collection can be viewed at the links below.

The French Chef (1962–1973)

Between 1962-1972, approximately 300 episodes of The French Chef were broadcast. Series 1 of The French Chef was broadcast from 1963-1966 and was originally shot in the WGBH studio in black and white with over 100 episodes. The French Chef series continued with Series 2 in 1970; it was shot in color and featured Julia Child’s summer trip to France. Series 3, shot in 1972, offered French culinary classics and programs which focused on the theme of the "French Chef faces real life" with episodes like Sudden Company.

Joyce Chen, Theonie Mark, The Romagnolis, Beatrice Trum Hunter (1966–1975)

The Joyce Chen Cooks 26-part series featured Chinese chef, cookbook author, and local restauranteur Joyce Chen who introduced a more exotic cuisine to the American public, including Peking Ravioli. Shot on the same set as The French Chef with the same producer, Joyce Chen Cooks did not continue beyond the first season. However, a one-off special was produced in 1973, entitled Joyce Chen’s China which chronicled Joyce Chen and her children’s visit to the People’s Republic of China in 1973.

In 1972, following the trend of focusing on international cuisine, WGBH next produced the Theonie on Greek Island Cooking series, hosted by Greek chef and cookbook author, Theonie Mark. The series consisted of 26 episodes and featured dishes such as moussaka and spanikopita. Like the Joyce Chen Cooks series it only ran for one season. In 1975, a special entitled Theonie’s Greek Easter was produced.

The Romagnolis Table was the next cooking series produced by WGBH which ran from 1973-1975. The Romagnolis, Franco and his wife, Margaret, introduced Americans to authentic Italian home cooking. A cameraman by profession, Franco Romagnoli proposed the idea of an Italian cooking show to WGBH management. The Romagnolis cooked together on the program, wrote several cookbooks on Italian cooking, and opened at least two Italian restaurants in the Boston area. The local programs were distributed nationally on the Public Broadcasting Service.

In 1973, WGBH produced 16 short "fillers" with cookbook author Beatrice Trum Hunter who focused on the natural food craze that prevailed in the 1970s. These fillers were broadcast in between longer WGBH programs. Beatrice Trum Hunter was credited with writing the first natural food cookbook in 1961 and another natural food cookbook in 1972. Her short videos were 2-3 minutes in length and aired in between longer programs first on WGBH, then on national public television. In them, Ms. Hunter covered such topics as how to grow bean sprouts, healthy snacks, and nutrition.

Julia Child, Martha Stewart, Sheryl Julian, and Yara Roberts (1978–1993)

In 1978, Julia Child officially returned to WGBH and public television after a five-year hiatus with Julia Child and Company, and Julia Child and More Company (1978-1980). The new series presented an entire menu to viewers instead of just one recipe. The menus drew from a wide variety of cooking traditions, including New England fare, stir fries, and homemade pasta. Each of these series had 13 programs.

The next Julia Child series, Dinner at Julia’s (1983-1984) was built around a weekly dinner party for 10, with the setting a colonial-style mansion just outside Santa Barbara, CA. The series showed Julia actively sourcing her food (e.g. crabs, salmon, cheese, etc.) and included other American chefs (such as Wolfgang Puck) preparing parts of the meal, as well as a new segment by guest vintners selecting the appropriate wine accompaniment.

In 1986, a young Martha Stewart appeared for the first and only time on WGBH in a Thanksgiving special entitled Holiday Entertaining with Martha Stewart.

In 1990, WGBH created a pilot program, Cook’s Tour, hosted by Sheryl Julian, cookbook author and food writer for The Boston Globe. The pilot explored Brazilian cuisine with chef Yara Roberts and her mother, Carmelita de Castro. The subsequent 10-part series Cook’s Tour premiered in 1993, and explored international cuisines, such as Indian, Vietnamese, Russian, and American regional specialties. The series was hosted by Yara Roberts, a Brazilian chef and cookbook author.