Élisabeth Brassart (1897–1992) was the proprietor of the

Le Cordon Bleu Le Cordon Bleu (French for " The Blue Ribbon") is an international network of hospitality and culinary schools teaching French ''haute cuisine''. Its educational focuses are hospitality management, culinary arts, and gastronomy. The instituti ...

school in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

from 1945 to 1984. Le Cordon Bleu had been founded in 1895 by

Marthe Distel Marthe Distel () was a French journalist. Career Marthe Distel started the culinary magazine ''La Cuisinière Cordon Bleu''. To prompt readership, Distel offered subscribers cooking lessons with professional chefs. The first class was held in Janu ...

and

Henri-Paul Pellaprat Henri-Paul Pellaprat (; Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, 1869–1954) was a French chef, founder with the journalist Marthe Distel of Le Cordon Bleu cooking school in Paris. He was the author of ''La cuisine familiale et pratique'' and other classic Fre ...

. In 1945, after the end of

WWII World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, she purchased what had become a struggling school from a Catholic orphanage which had inherited it after the school's founder died in the late 1930s. The present owner, André J. Cointreau, purchased it from Brassart, who was an old family friend. Brassart managed to attract many notable chefs to teach at the Le Cordon Bleu under her tenure, among them. The school was a very international school under her leadership. Students came from the United States, Japan and around the world. Madame Brassart managed the school until 1984, at the age of 87, she decided it was time to retire. She sold it to the present owner, André J. Cointreau.

Students

Madame Brassart has been painted unfavorably in several printed accounts, notably biographies of

Julia Child Julia Carolyn Child (née McWilliams; August 15, 1912 – August 13, 2004) was an American cooking teacher, author, and television personality. She is recognized for bringing French cuisine to the American public with her debut cookbook, '' ...

, who studied at the school under Brassart.

"The truth is that Mme. Brassart and I got on each other's nerves. She seemed to think that awarding a student a diploma was like inducting them into some kind of secret society; as a result the school's hallways were filled with an air of petty jealousy and distrust. From my perspective, Mme. Brassart lacked professional experience, was a terrible administrator and tangled herself up in picayune details and politics..."- ''from
My Life in France ''My Life in France'' is an autobiography by Julia Child, published in 2006. It was compiled by Julia Child and Alex Prud'homme, her husband's grandnephew, during the last eight months of her life, and completed and published by Prud'homme fol ...
, excerpted in
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
, February 19, 2006''

In the 2009 film, ''

Julie & Julia ''Julie & Julia'' is a 2009 American biographical comedy-drama film written and directed by Nora Ephron starring Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Stanley Tucci, and Chris Messina. The film contrasts the life of chef Julia Child in the early years of her ...

'', Brassart was portrayed by

Joan Juliet Buck Joan Juliet Buck (born 1948) is an American writer and actress. She was the editor-in-chief of Vogue Paris, French ''Vogue'' from 1994 to 2001, the only American ever to have edited a French magazine. She was contributing editor to ''Vogue (maga ...

in accordance to how Child described her. Shortly after the film's release, Nina Zagat, who also spent time at Le Cordon Bleu under Brassart, and her husband responded to the film's portrayal with an article comparing Brassart and Child, whom they both knew personally and stating that Brassart was more sympathetic in real life. "Having known both women, we can safely say that it's hard to imagine two less compatible people. Julia was tall and assertive with a loud, braying voice in English—one can only imagine what she sounded like in French. Madame Brassart, in contrast, was petite, elegant, and aristocratic, and spoke impeccable French and English, as well as several other languages... From our point of view, Madame Brassart was much more sympathetic than portrayed in the film--she had a great sense of humor and could be very funny in an understated way ("Laughter was de rigueur with her," her niece said)--and her achievements as a culinary educator, much like Julia's, are indisputable.

References

External links

Cordon Bleu official homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brassart, Madame Elisabeth Chefs of French cuisine French chefs 1897 births 1992 deaths Ownership Cooking schools in France

Students

References

Further reading

External links