Twitch launches full-time food channel with Julia Child marathon

In between rounds of Dota 2 and League of Legends, video game streaming giant Twitch wants viewers to consider taking a break to watch chef extraordinaire Julia Child whip up an amazing dish.

The company announced today that it would be launching a full-time food channel to offset its gaming content, starting with a 24/7 marathon of Julia Child's The French Chef. To celebrate the launch, Twitch is going to stream all 201 episodes of Child's show consecutively over four days. The company has explored nongaming marathons before, including the incredibly successful stream of Bob Ross' The Joy of Painting in November, which drew 5.6 million viewers during the first week his show was offered on the site.

According to a press release from Twitch, Child used The French Chef and cooking as a way to bond with her audience and build a community. It's similar, the release added, to the way Twitch streamers used gaming as a way to connect and build their own audience.

"Julia Child was the precursor to Twitch's social cooking movement, making The French Chef show a great reminder about how visionary she was," Bill Morrier, head of Twitch Creative, said. "To put it in terms our community can relate to, Bob Ross is the Julia Child of painting."

Child will join other Twitch Creative talent who have already made a home for themselves on the company's channel, including Dan from DomesticDan and Christine from CookingForNoobs. All together, there are six dedicated chefs who will continue to host their own cooking shows for Twitch's new channel.

Ashley (FakeGamerGirl), Franziska (Goldamsel), Chef (WorkingChef) and Lulaboo (Lulaboo) will also host a variety of programs alongside Dan and Christine, from serving up vegan dishes to preparing meals based on Ross' paintings.

Twitch's marathon of Child's The French Chef kicks off today at 2 p.m. PT.