Louisette Bertholle

Louisette Bertholle (26 October 1905 – 26 November 1999) was a French chef and author, best known as one of the three authors (with Julia Child and Simone Beck) of the bestselling cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

After World War II, Bertholle, who had the idea of writing a French cookbook for American cooks, met Simone Beck via the Le Cercle des Gourmettes culinary club and the two began to develop the concept further, collecting recipes and testing them. Their initial attempts at writing were unsuccessful, however their idea was rekindled in 1949 when they met Julia Child. Bertholle and Beck did successfully publish the short cookbook What's Cooking in France in 1952, and the three women founded their own cooking school, L'Ecole des Trois Gourmandes, in 1951. The latter was created to give French cooking lessons to American women living in Paris, and Child, as well as Beck, would wear the school's logo on her blouse when appearing on television.

By 1960 Bertholle's life had changed significantly: her marriage was failing, she was having financial difficulties and was already over 50. However, she was able to reinvent herself and restart her career via her participation with Child and Beck. The three women had initially signed a contract to publish Mastering the Art of French Cooking with Houghton Mifflin. The publishing company ultimately rejected the submitted manuscript, believing it was too much like an encyclopedia. When it was finally published in 1961 by Alfred A. Knopf, the 734-page book was a best-seller and received critical acclaim.

She is played by American actress Helen Carey in the 2009 film Julie & Julia.

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