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."

Comments

Re:Public Relations stunt?

[chipschap]

Maybe, but whenever I read about Julia McWilliams' role in WWII, I find myself admiring the courage of her and people like her.

Wow. From a recipe that even a shark won't touch

[Radical Moderate]

...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!"