A kitchen, a bottle of wine, and a duck recipe. Easy, right?
With the movie, “Julie & Julia,” now out, media commentators and critics find new fodder for chewing. One of the better perusals comes from The Boston Globe, written by Devra First and Wesley Morris. A video helps brings home the impact of cooking from Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. After deboning a duck, can one be empowered?
Probably.
And for another tidbit of all things Juliana, here’s Julia Child on one of my favorite topics — early cookbooks, from a tape done at the Library of Congress by Michael Lawrence Films:
CYNTHIA D. BERTELSEN 
You’re absolutely right about the cookbooks; diaries and letters, too. I have no idea what historians are going to use for primary sources in the future, unless blogs and other such Internet material remain accessible!
What a great clip – hearing Julia sing! I haven’t seen the film yet, but am looking forward to it.
I don’t really know very much about cookbook scholarship, but it seems like it may be a under-researched area. I’m really looking forward to reading Mark Kulransky’s “Food of a Younger Land” (http://bit.ly/R6aT7) which documents work done by the federal writers project during the depression right before WWII. Writers were paid to go around the country and collect local recipes. The collection was put on hold when war broke out and was only recently unearthed by Kurlansky.
With the current changes in the US food system, local delicacies are disappearing and are being replaced by generic and mass produced items that lack any sort of local or seasonal reference. Older local and family cookbooks are going to be the only documentation we have left of some truly unique foods and traditions.
Great post! I waited until I saw the movie yesterday afternoon to reply. In spite of many cynical comments in the food media, I LOVED the movie. The scenes of Paris, the food, the markets, the streets, oooh! I agree with yu, I was afraid they might try to do a Dan-Ackroyd-like caricature, but they didn’t. (I loved it that brought up the Dan Ackropyd thing, though!
I love all things Julia … so thank you for your post!
I just saw Julie & Julia last night, and posted my review on my blog this morning. Growing up in Boston, we used to watch Julia on WGBH all the time, and she was, of course, bigger than life. I’m so glad that the movie was a tribute to her rather than a caricature, and it certainly motivated me to continue with my own food and fitness blogging!