Julie & Julia: There is a cooking star in all of us or is there???

Yesterday, I went to watch Julie & Julia, a movie portraying the life of two women – Julia Child & Julie Powell, born in different eras but in love with cooking. While Julia Child  an American who lived in Paris in 1920s, learnt French cooking and wrote books about it. Julie Powell lives in New York, is fascinated by Julia Child’s cooking and blogs. She became famous because she cooked all the 524 recipes in Julia Child’s book “Mastering the art of French cooking” in 365 days and blogged about it.

What I found interesting about the film was that it made cooking so glamorous and interesting. Off course, I have seen cooking shows on television!!! But Julia Child played by Meryl Streep came across as an absolutely delightful person – in love with life and food. As I write this, I think Julia Child reminds me a wee bit of Tarla Dalal. The famous Indian author of cookery books and TV host. However, the comparison ends there.

I quite liked Amy Adams as Julie Powell living the life of a New Yorker, hating it and finding solace in cooking. I was quite intrigued by Powell’s fascination with Julia Child and cooking. I always think that New York as a city has so much to offer, so it is quite surprising that someone would find interest in cooking and staying indoors.

The movie also made me think about the tradition of cooking. In the contemporary world, the art of traditional cooking is getting lost. When I was growing up in India, one of the biggest worries my family had was teaching me to be a good cook. I had to undergo a training at home to be a good cook. Off course, I went to a Home Science college and learnt all about food, nutrition and cooking. But my family thought it was very theoretical and I quite agree I could never make a dish taste like the way my mother would make it. I always tell my aunt who is a wonderful cook to write all her recipes for me. I am not sure when I will ever get time to cook all of them.

The movie was absolutely hilarious, but I must warn that you should have food before you watch it otherwise you may find it difficult to sit through it. Watching all that delicious food and the wonderful comments about food made me want to eat. And I have to confess that I ate a big piece of chocolate cake, without feeling guilty and savoring the taste of every bite…mmmmm!!!

Next time, you eat home made food cooked by that someone special….just appreciate it!!! You never know, she might turn into a cooking star!!!