‘Julie and Julia’ writer Julie Powell dead at age 49

Julie Powell, the writer of the bestselling foodie memoir Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen, has died according to numerous news outlets. She passed away at her home in New York at the much too young age of 49.

It is being reported by the New York Times that she died of cardiac arrest on October 26 by her husband Eric Powell.

Julie Powell was a name well known to almost anyone who considered themselves a foodie. Her book, which chronicled her journey to make each and every recipe in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking, was a huge hit when it was published in 2005.

The book Julie Powell wrote became a hit film starring Amy Adams and Meryl Streep.

The book got its start as a blog on Salon.com which followed her day to day adventure of trying to prepare all 524 recipes in the classic cookbook. She managed to pull it off despite the fact she was working in a ridiculously small kitchen in Queens.

The book was a bestseller and was soon adapted into a movie directed by Nora Ephron. The film starred Amy Adams as Powell and Meryl Streep as Julia Child and was a hit when it was released in 2009, earning almost $130 million at the worldwide box office.

Powell would go on to write a second memoir titled Cleaving: a Story of Marriage, Meat, and Obsession and would return to Salon to write about the recent Food Network series The Julia Child Challenge.

Powell’s style broke the mold when her blog first appeared. She cursed and made no bones about the fact she wasn’t anywhere close to a classically trained chef. But that was what people loved about her writing, myself included. It was honest, messy and most of all fun. Which is what food should be all about.

Rest in peace. And thanks.

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