The French Chef was an influential television cooking show by Julia Child. Being one of the first cooking shows on television, The French Chef was notable for introducing French cuisine to the United States at a time when it was considered upper-class and not suitable for home cooking; emphasizing fresh and, at the time, unusual ingredients; and was one of the first cooking shows that did not edit out culinary disasters, using them rather as "teachable moments". Certain elements became leitmotifs: Julia's fondness for wine; her staunch defense of the use of butter; her standard issue "impeccably clean towel"; and her closing line at the end of every show, "Bon appetit ."
The French Chef was in production and aired on PBS from 1963 to 1973. Reruns continued on PBS until 1987.