The FC, Brent and I went to see “Julie and Julia” last week and we were totally inspired, and not just by Meryl Streep’s amazing performance. The story engages, and, sorry if this sounds narcissistic, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who felt this way, but sometimes watching this movie was like looking in a mirror.
The film follows the lives of two women; Julie, a New York blogger cooking her way through Julia Child’s cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cuisine, and Julia Child herself, the famous cookbook author struggling to bring French cuisine to America. Both stories examine the search for creative expression through cooking, as well as providing a heart-warming look at the way relationships (ie, love) can nurture our creative impulses, inspire and “feed” us.
The way Julie’s blog came about felt uncannily familiar; her job dissatisfaction (though I admit being a disgruntled screenwriter doesn’t compare to handing out insurance to 911 victims ) the supportive boyfriend who inspires her to do the blog and sets up the blog template, as well as the frantic cooking meltdown scenes; all reminded me of moments I’d had with the FC.
Julia Child’s story spoke to me even more. For one, her story takes place in France, a country she adores, and I had just returned from there days earlier, equally impressed by the cuisine. For example, the scene where Julia gushes over her buttery truite meuniere reminded me of an experience I had in small hotel outside of Lyon, biting into a ham and cheese baguette and shouting “Oh my god!! Oh my god!!” I was having a food-orgasm in public. Amused, my French boyfriend (the FC) smiled and agreed. Just like Julia’s husband Paul (played by the adorable Stanley Tucci) he is (almost) never embarrassed by my loud public displays of pleasure and, in some case, outrage.
After the movie, the FC said it was cool to feel that your life is like a movie, than added, “Actually better zen a movie.”
But despite the similarities, the movie did make me raise a few questions about my blog and its purpose. In both cases, Julie and Julia had a goal. Julie’s goal was to cook her way through Julia Child’s cookbook in a year; Julia Child’s was to write a cookbook. What’s my goal?
This blog started for two reasons; as a forum for sharing my own cooking experiences, and also, and more importantly, to explore the connection between love and cooking (something the film does so elegantly.)
Does that give my blog enough of a purpose? If so, what is the end game? Is it finally knowing “the recipe for true love?” Marrying the FC? Breaking up with the FC? Going back to the AC? Becoming a better cook and inspiring others to cook too?
I once stumbled upon a cupcake blog that was no longer active, and I felt sad. What happened? Why did she suddenly quit? Did she get fat and die of a heart attack from eating all those yummy cupcakes? Or did she get pissed off because Martha Stewart ended the whole gourmet cupcake trend by publishing a giant definitive cupcake cookbook with many similar recipes? Her food blog just seemed to fizzle and die, and I don’t want that to happen to mine. I want mine to finish with a reason.
But maybe I shouldn’t predetermine its end. (It’s something I’ve done my whole life, forecasting myself out of good things, including the FC.) I just have to realize that every day I’m cooking up a little nibble, and everyday it’ll be different. Besides “Julie and Julia” only scratches the surface of the food/love connection. The topic is endless. And unlike a cupcake blogger, there’s no danger of me getting terminally fat or Martha Stewart deciding to write a cookbook called “cooking for cock.”
Sure, I admit, in my biggest craziest dreams the blog could be fodder for a TV series or romantic comedy about cooking for love (I already have a few ideas on how to spin it.) Or it could morph into a new blog, depending on how things go with the FC. Gourmet baby foods? 364 movie premises? (Actually, I like that one.) Cooking for no cock?
The future is open. And I think I’m okay with that.
August 18th, 2009 at 11:59 am
Yes this is definitely the kind of movie i like… This movie inspired by 2 true stories was for me in fact inspired by a third one MINE!!
I would like to know if other cookingforcock readers have this same feeling or if it just me and Laura…
August 19th, 2009 at 11:48 pm
I just found this article, ”On Julie & Julia, the Fake Movieland France and My Non-Buttery Menu” on the Huffington Post.
The writer charges the film with being dishonest in its depiction of France, which is strange.
I was in France recently — staying with French people. No one talked about rationing and most seemed to like a little butter and A LOT OF CHEESE.
Besides, Julie and Julia does not pretend to be a political or even really a historically accurate film. Through parellel stories, both fictionalized, it tries to reveal the connection between love, creativity and cooking — something the French seem to understand very well.
It’s also the subject of this blog.
http://www.cookingforcock.com/2009/08/julie-and-julia-and-me/