The One Fast Food Chain Julia Child Couldn't Get Enough Of

Julia Child was a huge proponent of gourmet ingredients, but she was no snob. As rigorous as she was about teaching the art of authentic French cuisine following her training at Le Cordon Bleu, it's clear that her cooking ethos was built on accessibility — even when some of the recipes she helped popularize, like Boeuf Bourguignon, cassoulet, and duck à l'orange, required plenty of time and patience. The modern viewer might compare her to Ina Garten, who grows her own vegetables but also falls back on the comforting reminder that "store-bought is fine."

"There is more than one good way of skinning a duck or cooking a ragoût, and occasionally our TV time-limitations forced me to eliminate a frill or two," Child writes in the introduction of "The French Chef Cookbook," which was published as a companion to her popular cooking show of the same name. Given her eclectic love of food and the fact that she served goldfish crackers at Thanksgiving (revealed in a 1976 interview with The New York Times), it might not surprise you to learn that Child occasionally indulged in fast food. One chain in particular earned her praise. 

As a native of Pasadena, it's only natural that Julia Child favored the California chain In-N-Out when she had a hankering for a burger. According to First We Feast and Alta, Child would carry around a list of In-N-Out locations in her purse and frequently requested its burgers while she was recovering from knee surgery in the hospital. In 2009, Jamie West of Santa Barbara's Montecito Club told the Ventura Country Star that he and Child made several pit stops at the chain on a road trip together. 

"On the way up the coast, we ate In-N-Out burgers in the car," said West. "On the way back, we went inside to order at the In-N-Out Burger in Santa Maria. A young woman behind the counter kept looking at us. Then she whispered to me: 'Is that Julia Child?' It was great how people of all ages knew who she was." We can only imagine that Child was also a fan of the chain's animal-style fries.

Julia Child was unique in many ways, but not in her love of In-N-Out. A 2017 Eater roundup of famous chefs' orders proves that the much-ballyhooed chain is just as popular among culinary professionals as anyone else. For instance, David Chang of NYC institution Momofuku goes for a "grilled cheese with griddled tomatoes, animal-style and spicy." The late Anthony Bourdain called the chain one of his "favorite places" in Los Angeles. "It's the only fast-food chain that I actually like and think is reasonably good for the world," he said. He went for "a Double-Double, animal-style."

A recent Pricelisto study cited by the Times of San Diego shows that, unsurprisingly, In-N-Out was the most popular burger chain in California as of December 2022. If we had to guess, we'd say that chefs appreciate In-N-Out for its quality ingredients. According to the company website, its patties are "free of additives, fillers, and preservatives" and its fries are made from potatoes that are cut fresh daily in-house. Julia wouldn't have it any other way.