Julie Powell

Now out on DVD, Julie & Julia is a parallel story of transformations: of Julia Child as she develops her passion for food in 1950s Paris, and of author Julie Powell as she cooks up a scheme to prepare more than 500 of Child's dishes in a single year and blog about her experience. While based on Powell's zestful memoir of the same name, the movie is also a product of the love of food and endearing humor found in Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. ("Many Americans prefer that the meat be removed from the shells before the dish is served, which is too bad, as it makes more work for the cook.") In our book-club discussion, Powell talks about where she got the idea, how it began to take form, and what it was like to see her project on the big screen with stars like Amy Adams and Meryl Streep.