Sippican School fifth grader and Marion resident Julia Winters shares more than a first name with the famous chef Julia Child. The 11-year old food aficionado is most at home in the kitchen and is now sharing her favorite recipes online.

On her website, “Julia the Child Foodie,” the first-time blogger posts recipes, food jokes, her vegetable of the month pick (May’s is the cucumber) as well as restaurant and food reviews.

Along with maintaining a Facebook page for her blog, Julia says her efforts to get the recipes out there stem from something simple - a love of food.

“I wanted kids to find out about all of the recipes I have,” Julia said. “I love to cook, and I love to bake.”

Coming from a long family line of fellow food enthusiasts, Julia says she learned how to cook from her mom, Christine, and from her grandmothers.

Julia and her mom have spent years collecting recipe cards from restaurants, and from the New Bedford food specialty shop Sid Wainer and Sons.

Using those recipe cards, as well as family favorites, Julia said she spends her time after school and in between lacrosse practices trying out new recipes.

Given her devotion to cooking, she said she hopes to become either a chef or a food critic when she is older.

“What I love about cooking is how you get to try it all when it’s done, and it pretty much forces you to try new things,” she said.

Her blog is not just about recipes, she said.

What she hopes to promote is getting other kids to be curious about different foods and try new things.

Too often kids get boxed in with what they are given for meals, she said.

Instead of just eating “kid foods”, such as chicken nuggets or pizza, Julia said she thinks a meal for kids should be “a smaller version of an adult menu.”

Julia said she’s glad school cafeterias are experimenting with a greater variety of foods.

“It would be interesting to have new foods in the schools,” she said.

“I think they should get kids to try more foods because if they try it at school, they might try it at home, too.”

Her motto: “Try it, you’ll like it!”

To check out Julia's blog, click here!