It’s the start of a new year and days of writing and discovering new food and new restaurants are ahead of me. But before continuing on with my food adventures this year, I would like to give a few insights about a film that to me, captures the essence of cooking and food blogging, Julie and Julia, a film starring Amy Adams and Meryl Streep.
I was reluctant to watch this film initially because I thought it would be about like watching a piece from the History Channel. Honestly, I don’t know Julia Child very well. Okay, so I can associate her name with cooking but other than that, I’m not so sure if I would be that interested watching her life story. But sometimes, life gives us surprises, what I thought was a boring adaptation of Julia Child’s life was a film about two women having the courage to pursue their dreams even if it means pushing themselves to the limit.
One part of the story is about Julie Powell, stuck in a boring government position, looked down upon by her “successful” friends and lives with her husband in an apartment in Brooklyn. Hurt by how low her friends and her mom thought of her, she decided to embark on a journey that would force her to do something different and actually finish something for a change.
And because she loved to cook, she decided to cook all the 500 plus recipes of Julia Child’ s cook book, Mastering the Fine art of French Cooking, make a blog about it and finish it in a span of one-year. Meanwhile, the other part of the film showed the different journey of Julia Child and the struggles she encountered while preparing and finishing this cookbook. It also showed her life in France and what started her love for French cooking.
Written and directed by Nora Ephron, this film gives us a lesson about the fruits we can achieve if we have the audacity to pursue our passion no matter what anyone else thinks. Julie loved to cook and write and she pursued this passion even if she thinks nobody was reading her blogs. As someone who writes about food, I can totally relate to Julie in terms of having this urge to express one’s thoughts even if it seems nobody else is reading it, that just writing about the pleasure of tasting good food is reward enough already.
Believe it or not, these are two true stories. What they both have in common is their love for cooking , a love translated to tasty and delicious meals served to loved ones. I wish I can cook that good but I’m just a writer/blogger who can only write about the best meals I’ve had so far, the satisfaction I derived from these meals and a wish that everybody could also try these if they could. And for now, that’s what makes me happy.
