Local Chef's talk about Julia Child movie

Memories of Julia Child stirred by film
By Donna Goodison | Wednesday, August 5, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Business & Markets


“Julie & Julia” hits the big screen on Friday, and restaurants have cooked up promotions to celebrate Julia Child, the late Cambridge chef who brought French cooking into legions of American homes.

Chefs who knew Child, meanwhile, generally give two thumbs up to Meryl Streep’s portrayal of the endearing public TV personality and cookbook author, even if the actress failed to reveal some of Child’s most alluring traits.

Director Nora Ephron’s movie is an adaptation of Child’s best-selling memoir, “My Life in France,” and “Julie & Julia,” blogger Julie Powell’s recounting of her year-long endeavor to cook all 536 recipes from Child’s 1961 “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.”

Some of those same recipes will be prepared by Brian Counihan, executive chef of Isabella in Dedham and The Local in Newton, on Aug. 24 when he hosts a “Cooking Like Julia” class at the Viking Center in Westwood at 6 p.m.

And, in honor of what would have been Child’s 97th birthday on Aug. 15, customers at South End restaurants Aquitaine, Metropolis, Union and Gaslight will be able to toast Child’s life with a free glass of champagne.

Industry insiders treated to a preview of “Julie & Julia” at WGBH Boston suggested Child’s colorful and fruitful life was short-changed in the movie. Chef Jasper White wondered whether Streep’s acting chops were wasted by not having her star in a film focusing exclusively on Child.

“I don’t know anybody else who could have done it like Meryl Streep, but there were little subtleties missing,” White said. “There was an intelligence about Julia that I don’t think came through completely.”

Mary-Catherine Deibel, co-owner of Upstairs on the Square in Cambridge, was astounded by Streep’s performance. “I really thought she captured the voice and the cadence of her speech,” she said.

But while Deibel said Child was a very serious person, she thought the movie depicted her as “really flighty.”

“She was incredibly sharp and just had an enormous curiosity,” Deibel said. “She always remembered our chefs’ names and where they went to school.”

Chef Ming Tsai of Wellesley’s Blue Ginger found “Julie & Julia” entertaining and at points couldn’t discern whether he was watching Streep or Child.

“I thought they portrayed her sense of humor and directness really well,” said Tsai, whom Child once called out for not employing any female line cooks. “One of her best qualities in life was she said it like it was. She didn’t sugarcoat.”
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1189195

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