Paula J. Johnson is the curator of food history and director of the American Food History Project at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. She was one of the curators who originally collected the kitchen from Julia Child herself in 2001 and has worked with the kitchen and its contents for many years since, building expertise in American culinary history, food technology, history, and culture. Jacques Pépin is one of the world's most celebrated chefs. Through his long and distinguished career as a professional chef and instructor, host of 14 popular public television series and author of dozens of cookbooks, Pépin has advanced the art and craft of culinary technique as much as any other figure of the past century. His dedication to culinary education led to the creation of the Jacques Pépin Foundation in 2016.