Julia Child, who died in 2004, never saw the film, but she was aware of Powell's project. In 2009, Nora Ephron turned Powell's story into a movie starring Meryl Streep as Julia Child, Stanley Tucci as Paul Child and Amy Adams as Powell. Want more great food writing and recipes? Subscribe to Salon Food's newsletter, The Bite.įollowing the success of the blog, she sold the book to Little, Brown & Company, and went on to sell more than a million copies. 'We were lucky enough to be the conduit.' 'She truly made her own lane,' Williams added. And I think the people who read Salon weren't seeking a woman writing about her home cooking.' 'This was also pre-Slack, pre-Zoom, so as a team, a lot of people didn't even know about it. 'I remember it being well-regarded, but not the juggernaut it became after the book,' said Salon senior writer Mary Elizabeth Williams, who previously managed Open Salon, the platform that hosted Powell's blog. At the time, Salon reported that the blog had accumulated over 400,000 page views. Over the next year, Powell's audience grew exponentially. 'People - a couple of friends, a couple of strangers, even my aunt Sukie from Waxahachie - had written in to the blog to root me on.' 'I'd written about all of it, my mistakes and my minor triumphs,' Powell wrote in her book. She wrote about it all in her blog - a dishy, wickedly funny and, sometimes, a little vulgar series of posts she eventually called The Julie/Julia Project - which originally debuted on Salon in 2002. That didn't deter Powell, however, from diving into the preparation of dishes like Filets de Poisson de Bercy aux Champignons, Poulet Rôti, Champignons à la Grecque, Carottes à la Concierge and even a Crème Brûlée.

Julie and Julia by Julie Powell