This Retro Cooking Tool Was A Mainstay In Julia Child's Kitchen

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Julia Child was a fan of many brands, from the American chocolate she considered the best in the country to her beloved Hellmann's mayonnaise. But she was a vocal advocate for all kinds of kitchen equipment too, with journalist Alex Prud'homme recalling that she referred to herself as "a knife freak, frying pan freak, and gadget freak." She particularly favored labor-saving devices like salad spinners and electric mixers. While at least some of her viewers would rush to get their hands on whatever bit of kit Child showcased, not everything she put to use was at the high end of the tech scale. But, in the case of the Foley fork, it was a mainstay of her kitchen.

One of her most beloved tools was a Foley fork, which she showed off in 1963, during "The Potato Episode" of her long-running show, "The French Chef." She described it as an "awfully useful kind of mixing fork," pointing out the long, flat tines that were bent at around a 90-degree angle. This meant they could evenly mash foods like potatoes, as well as beat eggs, whisk sauces, and sift dry ingredients like flour. The Foley fork became so closely associated with Child that in 2025, the Minnesota History Center included one in an exhibition exploring her life.

Julia Child's treasured (and much-used) Foley fork was one of a range of kitchen utensils made by the Foley Company in Minnesota. Launched in 1926 by Walter M. Ringer, it started with a food mill and expanded six years later into other housewares, producing tools including the Foley fork, cutters, an innovative one-handed flour sifter, and the Kitchen Komputer, a clever card wheel that helped home cooks increase or reduce ingredient amounts.

The company's slogan — "It's easier with Foley utensils" — helped make it a household name across the United States in the 1950s, but a merger with a machinery business in 1982 put an end to utensil production. In the 21st century, even though we are overwhelmed with devices and machines that will do all kinds of culinary wizardry, the Foley fork hasn't entirely gone out of fashion, and not just because of retro design trends like this '50s flooring. 

It now goes by other names — for example, this one is dubbed a Fantastic fork — but Child's simple, sturdy tool is still a fixture in many people's kitchens. The proud owner of an original Foley model revealed in a 2025 Reddit comment that theirs was used for "breaking up hamburger for Sloppy joes or for casseroles." As for the one owned by Julia Child? You might get a glimpse of it at the Smithsonian, where her kitchen has been on display since 2012.