Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen While working for the
Lower Manhattan Development Corporation in August 2002, Powell began the Julie/Julia Project, a blog on
Salon chronicling her attempt to cook all the recipes in
Simone Beck,
Louisette Bertholle and
Julia Child's
Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The blog quickly gained a large following, and Powell signed a book deal with
Little, Brown and Company. The resulting book,
Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen, was published in 2005. The paperback edition was retitled
Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously. Child was reported to have been unimpressed with Powell's blog, believing her determination to cook every recipe in
Mastering the Art of French Cooking in a year to be a stunt. Child's editor,
Judith Jones, said in an interview: Reviews from others were also mixed. David Kamp writing in
The New York Times disliked Powell's writing style, saying it "has too much blog in its DNA. It has a messy, whatever's-on-my-mind incontinence to it, taking us places we'd rather not go". Similarly, Keith Phipps of
The A.V. Club did not think the transition from blog to memoir was handled well, asserting that its "digressive stream-of-consciousness style has become the
lingua franca of the blogosphere, and while it can be an art form when dished out in daily installments, it's a slog at book length". More positive was the review in
Kirkus Reviews, which wrote approvingly of Powell's style: "Indulge in this memoir of marrow and butter, knowing there is always a bitter green to balance the taste". The review in
Publishers Weekly, meanwhile, suggested that "Both home cooks and devotees of
Bridget Jones–style dishing will be caught up in Powell's funny, sharp-tongued but generous writing". In 2009, Powell was awarded an honorary diploma from
Le Cordon Bleu, the same cooking school from which Child graduated in 1951. Prior to her Julie/Julia project, Powell had never eaten an egg before she tackled Oeufs à la Fondue de Fromage. At various points in the blog, Powell confessed to loathing beans, olives, anchovies, salad, spinach, eggs and even fresh peas ("little green sacs of wet flour").
Film The film
Julie & Julia directed by
Nora Ephron was released August 7, 2009. The film was based on both Julie Powell's book and
Julia Child's autobiography
My Life in France.
Amy Adams starred as Julie Powell and
Meryl Streep as Julia Child. Julie's husband, Eric, was portrayed by
Chris Messina. Julia's husband,
Paul, was portrayed by
Stanley Tucci.
Cleaving: a Story of Marriage, Meat, and Obsession Powell's second book,
Cleaving: a Story of Marriage, Meat, and Obsession, details her experiences learning to butcher at Fleisher's butcher shop in
Kingston, New York, and the effects of affairs by both her and her husband on their marriage. It was published on November 30, 2009. The work received several negative reviews based on the content of the book and Powell's openness about the affairs.
Return to Salon In 2022, Powell started writing a series of commentary pieces for
Salon about
The Julia Child Challenge, a
Food Network reality television show in which Powell was not involved. ==Personal life and death==