The movie Julie and Julia comes out today.
It's about the life of Julia Child, who changed the way Americans regard food, and Julie Powell, who embarked on cooking every recipe in Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking some four decades after the book was first published.
Katherine Monk's review in the Times Colonist: She says it's a "zesty little film."
A.O. Scott at the New York Times also has a positive review. My favourite line from it: "Most strikingly, this is a Hollywood movie about women that is not about the desperate pursuit of men." Here's a link to the A.O. Scott review.
Roger Ebert is less enamoured with the movie.
Here's a link to Julie Powell's blog, The Julie/Julia Project, which led to a book, which led to a movie. (I found the blog setup a little confusing; you have to click on a date to get to the next entry.)
Food writer Julian Armstrong reflects on the impact Julia Child had on her: "Julia Child appeared on the food scene at the right time for food-lovers. You could say she saved our bacon, mine included, publishing her landmark cookbook just as the food industry was flooding the market with ready-made products."
Joanne Chianello on the continuing importance of Julia Child. Plus, how the Le Cordon Bleu cooking school is belatedly claiming Child as one of their own, even though the head of the school in Paris barely tolerated her six decades ago, and only reluctantly allowed her to graduate.
I enjoyed reading My Life in France, Julia Child's memoir, written with her grand-nephew Alex Prud'Homme. It's funny and inspiring. The descriptions of food and cooking are fabulous. It's also a love story. Julia recalls how she met her diplomat husband Paul, recounts their many adventures (they travelled much of the world together), and underscores how very important he was to her success. There's also the story of how she became, at an age when many people are mulling retirement, a cooking star, steering America away from canned soups and TV dinners to potage parmentier and boeuf bourguignonne. Here's a book review from The New York Times, published in 2006.
