US writer Julie Powell, who became famous for writing about her quest to cook every recipe in Julia Child's cookbook, has died at the age of 49.
Powell's popular 2002 blog about her Julie/Julia Project formed the basis of her memoir called Julie & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously. The book was adapted for the 2009 hit film starring Meryl Streep as Julia Child and Amy Adams as Julie.
The temporary secretarial worker, who was approaching 30 at the time, chronicled her year-long mission to cook all 524 recipes from Julia Child’s classic cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking. It was described by the Philadelphia Inquirer as "a kind of Bridget Jones meets The French Chef".
She went on to write another book Cleaving: A Story of Marriage, Meat, and Obsession, published in 2009.
"Ms. Powell’s self-deprecating style became a bridge from the authority of food writers like Mrs. Child, James Beard and M.F.K. Fisher to the accessibility of Rachael Ray, Bobby Flay and Nigella Lawson," The New York Times wrote in her obituary.
The food writer's death on October 26 was confirmed to the Times by her husband, Eric Powell, who said the cause was cardiac arrest.
Julie Powell, best-selling author of 'Julie & Julia,' dead at 49 https://t.co/cXJ152fJNJ pic.twitter.com/V4UMAt7yDP
— New York Post (@nypost) November 1, 2022
