The American author of the book and film “Julie and Julia” died at the age of 49.
Julie Powell, an American writer who gained international fame for her blog and cookbook inspired by Julia Child’s best-selling 1960s French cuisine, has died of a heart attack at the age of 49, the New York Times reported Tuesday.
Citing her husband, the newspaper said Julie Powell died on October 26 at her home in New York state.
Born and raised in Austin, Texas, she worked in the New York municipal administration, before starting a blog that turned into a bestseller in 2005: “Julie and Julia: 365 days, 524 recipes, 1 kitchen of a tiny apartment”, translated into French under the title “Julie and Julia: sex, blog and beef bourguignon”.
Julie Powell in a humorous tone comments and tries to rework the recipes of the famous cook and California television presenter Julia Child (1912-2004), author of the enormous bestseller “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” from 1961, with the aim, at the time, of popularizing French cuisine among American women.
Julie & Julia (2009), directed by Nora Ephron, was directly adapted from Julie Powell’s book and Julie Child’s autobiography (“My Life in France”) to portray the two women with actresses Amy Adams for Julie Powell and Meryl Streep for Julia Child.
The journey of Julie Powell, who died Wednesday, inspired dozens of blogs by American chefs and culinary and food authors such as Dorie Greenspan, Ina Garten, Deb Perelman, Alison Roman and France’s Clotilde Dusoulier.
On Tuesday, Deb Perelman took to Twitter to say she was “shocked to learn of the death this morning of Julie Powell, the first food blogger.”
“(Julie Powell’s) books brought Julia Child into step with a new generation, thanks to a refreshing, informal and grounded in real life, which was quite rare” 20 years ago, commented Ms. Perelman of Smitten Kitchen. Web page.
