Julie and Julia

A few years back I read a wonderful book written by a girl who cooked her way through Julia Child's classic tome, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and wrote a blog about it. The blog became an internet sensation and eventually became the basis for the book, which was ultimately made into a movie starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams. I am talking about Julie and Julia and I have been waiting all summer for the movie. I can report that it was definitely worth the wait.

The book, like the movie, is not really about cooking or food or even Julia Child. It is about believing in something long and hard enough to stick with it--even after publishers have rejected it, agents have come and gone and the drain gets clogged with the remains of beef aspic. It is also about having a support system that shares the belief that in the end, your dream, will prevail.

What attracted to me to the book was of course the concept of a blog turning into something bigger. That is probably what motivates a lot of bloggers--the thought that someone out there reading what they write every day could possibly turn it into something bigger and better than what it already is. The thrill that Julie has when she gets a comment is one that all bloggers share--the thought that someone is reading what they are writing and cares enough about it to have an opinion.

The book, however, did not have as much of the Julia Child story as the movie does and this is where the belief concept truly comes into play. It took eight years to get Mastering the Art of French Cooking published--eight years of nibbles and positive feedback followed by rejection and revision and more rejection, more revision from publishers who found it too big, too stiff, too complicated. In the end, the sheer luck of it all--epitomized by one editor who, perhaps on a whim or perhaps out of curiosity, decided to try the recipe for the famous beef stew (boeuf bourgignon)for herself and found it delicious--is truly astounding. What if she hadn't followed the directions perfectly? What if she had overcooked it or added too much salt? What if she was a vegetarian?

The moral of course is never to give up, a la both Julie and Julia, even though there are many detours and bumps along the way. Whether or not any of us have a project or a dream that truly will change the world is irrelevant--the important thing is to never stop believing it can.

Go see the movie. And then go out to eat!