Julia Child Editor Judith Jones on 'Julie and Julia' Author Julie Powell

by Alex Van Buren, Posted Jul 21st 2009 @ 4:30PM

'Julia and Julia' author Julie Powell. Photo: Sara Bonisteel.

Former Julia Child editor Judith Jones found herself in the spotlight Monday after Publishers Weekly quoted Jones saying that Child said of Julie Powell -- the blogger and author whose story is half of the movie adaptation "Julie and Julia" -- "I don't think she's a serious cook."

The magazine quotes Jones as saying of Powell's blog, "She didn't want to endorse it. What came through on the blog was somebody who was doing it almost for the sake of a stunt ... Julia didn't like what she called 'the flimsies.' She didn't suffer fools, if you know what I mean."

We caught up with Jones at her Vermont home and she elaborated, which she tells us is the last time she'll speak about the blog (though she promises a review of the movie is forthcoming at her own blog).

Jones said her Publishers Weekly comments were accurate, though "all a matter of selection," but clarified to Slashfood:

"People are curious about what Julia thought of Julie. I think it [the blog] made Julia feel that she wasn't very serious. Had she met her -- Julia was enormously supportive of people -- this is my interpretation, she didn't think she was a serious cook ... not that she would have said mean things. Julia was a very, very serious person with a mission. She wanted to teach people to cook well and to care and to take it seriously and to enjoy it. This particular [blog] didn't seem to appeal to her very much. That's all ... I feel that it's been whipped up into something."

Though Jones has been in the publishing industry for more than 50 years (at Alfred A. Knopf since 1957), she seems to have mixed sentiments about the intersection of technology and cooking. Of her own blog she tells us, "It's an electronic age and publishers better move with it." She followed with, "But so many young people just go to their computers. If they want to learn how to roast a chicken they just Google a chicken -- they don't care about who it's from."

Would Jones be open to meeting Powell?

"I don't know ... in the film she comes across as very appealing." She went on to explain her reaction to the blog (and subsequently, the film): "One has to remember that we just tuned into one of the first blogs and it didn't seem serious. As she [Powell] got going, she became empowered in a way, and she was really having fun."

Powell was unavailable for comment Tuesday, but did remark during an interview on July 16 that she had received a "very cordial" letter from Child after she wrote to her following the completion of "Julie/Julia," her yearlong project to cook and blog her way through "Mastering the Art of French Cooking."

"I've had a lot of people who've known her, and knew her, and worked with her or just met her, who are passionate on the subject: 'She would have loved you. I promise you she would have loved you,' and they are more upset about it [any snub] than I am," Powell said.

Julie and Julia'

Meryl Streep as Julia Child in the new film 'Julie and Julia,' opening on Aug. 7, 2009.

Sony Pictures Entertainment

Julia Child-inspired watercress soup.

Sara Bonisteel

Julie Powell, author of the book "Julie and Julia," making whipped cream at a demonstration for New York City bloggers tied to the opening of the movie 'Julie and Julia' on July 16, 2009.

Sara Bonisteel

Julie Powell, author of the book "Julie and Julia," tells it like it is -- when it comes to beef bourguignon.

Sara Bonisteel

Piping cream onto a chocolate pie.

Sara Bonisteel

Nora Ephron talks about the food in her film 'Julie and Julia.'

Sara Bonisteel

Chef Brian Malarkey talks beef bourguignon.

Sara Bonisteel

Beef and pancetta.

Sara Bonisteel

There's the beef.

Sara Bonisteel

Julia Child-inspired beef bourguignon.

Sara Bonisteel

[Via Publishers Weekly]

Filed Under: Television/Film, On the Blogs
Tags: judith jones, julia child, julia powell, julie and julia, knopf

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

7-21-2009 @7:20PM Sue said... I don't think anyone should try to speak for Julia as to what she did or didn't think of this. That is presumptuous to say the least. It smacks of old fogeyism as well, sorry to say.

For my part, Julie Powell's book was very respectful - it was a memoir about Julie, who was inspired to change herself by Julia's example. I find it sad that the self appointed guardians of Julia Childs feel the need to embrace a scorched earth policy where nothing that they haven't approved or written themselves is not looked down upon.

Ms. Powell's book inspired me to buy Julia's bio and cookbooks. No one I know who has read the book or blog feels that Julie was using Julia's fame at all. The book is about Julie's journey. I fell that the actions of the Julia Child's gang are at heart, petty.
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7-22-2009 @4:39PM Poor Man's Feast said... I was under the impression that Judith Jones appeared at a press event for the movie, and did, in fact, meet Julie Powell. Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I don't believe I am....

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7-23-2009 @9:50PM GL said... I'm right with Jones on this one.
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8-23-2009 @11:05PM madeleine said... We just saw Julie and Julia tonight, driving to the next town over in lovely coastal South Carolina because it isn't apparently being brought to our own small town. We loved it, but thought it sad to think that Julia Child didn't or would not approve when it is so clear tha Julie Powell epitomizes precisely the woman that Mrs. Child wanted to reach with her work... the women of America who WANT to cook well, create better lives in the process, and who are, as quoted from the film "Servantless". If Ms. Powell does one thing, it to pay absolute homage to Julia Child's work... Julie IS the woman Julia was targeting, in any event she is one of MANY such women.
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9-13-2009 @1:44AM Lynn said... I started reading the book, saw the movie and read some of her blog. I guess I am in the minority because Julie Powel's project did smack of being a stunt for attention. The cooking project was simply a way to talk more about herself. Too vain to hold my interest.
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