Free Information Site

As I wrote this article, the film, “Julie and Julia,” has so far, been a quite the summer hit.

“Julie and Julia is a light drama that tells the story of New Yorker, Julie Powell who challenged herself to cook every recipe in Julia Child’s famous cookbook: “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” within one year.

In a parallel plot, the film covers Julia Child’s early years in France which inspired her to write the cookbook.

The film’s popularity has inspired a renewed interest in the Julia Child and the fascinating story about how “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” came to be.

================================ The Story Behind the Bestseller ================================

It wasn’t very long ago when a typical American dinner was meatloaf, canned peas, and mashed potatoes. Maybe a salad made with iceberg lettuce, grated carrot and 1000 island dressing. And Jell-O for dessert.

You couldn’t go out for Mexican food unless you lived in Southern California or Texas. Chinese food was chop suey and egg rolls. And Italian was pizza or spaghetti and meatballs.

The choices we now have at the grocery store, when we go out to eat, and the cook books and cooking shows are in part thanks to Julia Child’s desire to prepare dishes she loved and to teach others to prepare those dishes as well.

When it was published in 1961, Mastering the Art of French Cooking became a “must-have” for many aspiring young wives.

Mastering the Art of French Cooking and the following it inspired made it possible for the hundreds of Italian, Mexican, and Asian foods now common in American grocery stores. It opened up possibilities for the extraordinary range of cuisines we can find in restaurants, not to mention the billion dollar business in cookbooks, cooking shows, and other media.

================================ Product Development Lessons