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CIA Shares Julia Child's Shark Repellent Recipe
coondoggie writes: Sometimes some of the coolest stories get lost in history. The CIA recently noted one of them – famous French food chef and author Julia Child's critical involvement in developing a shark repellent recipe for military personnel during WWII. The CIA reports: "Julia McWilliams (better known by her married name, Julia Child) joined the newly-created OSS in 1942 in search of adventure. This was years before she became the culinary icon of French cuisine that she is known for today. In fact, at this time, Julia was self-admittedly a disaster in the kitchen. Perhaps all the more fitting that she soon found herself helping to develop a recipe that even a shark would refuse to eat....After trying over 100 different substances—including common poisons—the researchers found several promising possibilities: extracts from decayed shark meat, organic acids, and several copper salts, including copper sulphate and copper acetate. After a year of field tests, the most effective repellent was copper acetate."
Kind of suggests a brand new spin on Dan Akyroyd's sketch on SNL.
If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
If any story deserves an early happy Friday from the Golden Girls it's this one.
Swimming with sharks - I was a chef for the CIA!
Did she work for Batman ?
Nullius in verba
Corrupt government agency trying to distract citizens from the abuses?
This was years before she became the culinary icon of French cuisine that she is known for today. In fact, at this time, Julia was self-admittedly a disaster in the kitchen.
I had no idea this was a contradiction...
Ezekiel 23:20
...to one of the most famous chefs on the planet. That's quite a journey. Hopefully she didn't keep her shark-repellent ingredients in the kitchen, could make for some...interesting meals:
"Ooops, looks like I grabbed the copper acetate instead of the cumin again, I really need to separate those better! Save the liver!"
Never let a lack of data get in the way of a good rant.
My wife's cooking
Table-ized A.I.
The Julia Child's recipe was probably declassified after so long due to either the Nature or Discovery Channel having a special on the Great White Sharks/Killer Whales off some island in California (Catalina?) where a GWS gets absolutely shredded by some Orcas that have developed a taste for shark meat. The other great whites in the local area simply dove deep and ran for Hawaii within 10-12 hrs. Turns out they could detect the "dead shark" aroma in the water.
I'm pretty sure there's something to be decoded in this story beyond the subject(s).
wouldn't be the worst problem ever considering it tastes sweet.
Well except for the whole:
INGESTION: Acute ingestion of copper salts can cause
irritation, severe nausea and vomiting, salivation,
abdominal pain, epigastric burning, hemolysis,
gastrointestinal bleeding with hemorrhagic gastritis,
hematemesis and melena, anemia, hypotension, jaundice,
seizures, coma, shock and death. Hepatic and renal
failure may develop several days after acute
ingestion. Methemoglobinemia may rarely occur. Copper
may produce a metallic or sweet taste.
My grandfather was a blimp mechanic (El Toro airbase, southern california) who saw plenty of downed craft and rescued wreckage. He claimed the repellent did nothing once there was blood in the water. There was always blood in the water once someone drowned. It was classified as an ongoing project that was eventually shelved due to continual failure, but promising reasearch. The repellents just weren't effective at all.
... for declassifying the shark repellant recipe. We all forgive you and Jula Childs and love you as you are. Please now also declassify the cure for cancer.
Thats easy. Just slash the person next to you and swim away
So Julia Childs invented this: http://img.gawkerassets.com/po...
Julia Child said, "Cooking is one failure after another, and that’s how you finally learn."
I would've thrown Julia Childs to the sharks. Pretty sure even sharks wouldn't touch her.
--sf
When I was a kid I used to tinker with kitchen chemistry. I accidentally made copper acetate: put vinegar in a little closed bottle, and some copper object (coin etc.) so that it stays _above_ the liquid. Copper will slowly react with vapor of the acetic acid yielding rather beautiful (and stinky) blue rhombic crystals. (As always, be safe: just don't eat it or don't give to kids, etc.)
Julia Childs was also a spy for allied forces. She placed herself in a position such that she cooked for an important German general and thus overheard conversations with meaningful information which was passed on to military intelligence. People often use the term CIA when mentioning Julia but I would think they should be saying OSS or perhaps the Brit's Special Executive Branch as the CIA did not exist at that time. Obviously the lady placed herself in harms way for the war effort. She was an unlikely heroin just as one can not quite picture Eddie Albert as a serious war hero in the Pacific. Even Audi Murphy was a tiny guy who one would not suspect as being our most decorated hero in WW2.
Copper is extremely deadly to marine invertebrates. Coral, snails, crabs are very sensitive to even low levels of copper.
So yea, it repels sharks, but destroy everything else in the area.
Didn't Spock fend off some alien creature because his blood was copper-based?
... because everyone knows that he who acetates is lost.
Strike while the irony is hot! -- The Freethinker
Too late to make Sharknado 3; maybe round 4?