A few months ago, after early trailers of the movie had started playing, a co-worker asked me if I was going to see it. His words were, "It seems like a movie you would like." Perhaps he thought I would like it because I write both a movie column and a food column, and more recently a blog.
The movie "Julia & Julia" is based on a book by Julie Powell, which is originally based on a blog by Julie Powell in which Powell writes about her experiences trying to cook all of the recipes in Child's first cookbook in one year. That's 524 recipes for anyone who doesn't know. Screenwriter/director Nora Ephron weaves Powells exploits with a story about Julia and Paul Child while they live in France, based on a book written by Julia and her nephew Alex Prud'homme. The time encompasses Child's time at culinary school, offering cooking classes and the many years she worked on a cookbook.
I think what I personally liked about the movie is that it shows what a universal thing cooking and food can be. The scenes where Julie invites friends over for a meal reminded me that I missed my annual summer cook-out with friends this year. And there were moments in the movie when I filed away some of the meals with a note to look up the recipes for future meals.
I would guess that most viewers of the movie will have tried at least one of the many meals that are traisped across the screen in the movie - some may have even tried to make them at home. And some will have seen a meal that has a deeper meaning for them.
For me it was the infamous beef bourguignon that triggered a memory. I still remember the first time I tried it. I was a senior in high school and a friend had invited me over to her family's house for dinner. For some reason I don't remember what we did that day - did we watch TV, did we hang out in the yard? - but I've always remembered the meal. Her mother made a pot of beef bourguignon and it was like nothing I'd ever eaten before. Sure, I'd had beef stew before, but it was nothing compared to the complex flavors of the herbs that had simmered for hours with the meat and vegetables. It was an intimate moment, to be eating dinner at a friend's house with her parents and brother at the table, when we had never spent time outside of school before. Though I was young, the time it took to prepare that stew was not lost on me. Her mother thought I was a good influence on her, with my AP classes and plans for college. I think that meal was offering of hope for the future - of her education, of our friendship. The friend died before she turned 16 and I don't eat beef bouruignon for the memories it conjures up.
The point, I guess, is that food is something that connects us all, in tragedies and in happiness, and I think that is what people are responding to when they like the movie.
Photo courtesy of Columbia Pictures. Stanley Tucci and Meryl Streep star as Paul and Julia Child in the recently released "Julie & Julia."
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