Tourists get taste of Julia Child's kitchen

If the forthcoming movie "Julie & Julia" (starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams) has you curious about the real Julia Child, you can see the famous chef's actual kitchen at a Washington, D.C., museum.

The display, called "Bon Appétit," first opened in 2002 at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History but is receiving some new items this summer, including memorabilia from the movie and Child's copper-pot collection.

The 14- by 20-foot kitchen — small by the standards of many modern American homes — includes her cabinets, counters, cookbooks, Garland commercial range and hundreds of well-worn utensils and gadgets.

It also has charmingly ordinary items, from refrigerator magnets to a dime-store dish drainer, along with Child's knife collection and pots and pans.

Child, author of the influential cookbook "Mastering the Art of French Cooking," tested recipes in the kitchen and filmed some of her TV shows there.

She donated the kitchen and its contents from her Cambridge, Mass., home when she moved back to her native California. She died in 2004.

Get more information, and an online interactive tour of the kitchen, at www.americanhistory.si.edu/kitchen.