On Aug 8, 2:16*pm, Goomba > wrote:
> saraheartburn wrote:
>
> * I think most of us think
>
> > of Julia Child as a rather jolly, kind woman, but many years ago
> > Streep contacted her hoping for her support with an organization she'd
> > started for the purpose of encouraging people to raise & eat organic
> > foods. *She was quite stunned upon receiving a fairly cranky and
> > dismissive letter in reply from Julia herself.
>
> Why would she presume to think that Julia was necessarily pro-organic or
> wanted her name associated with such a campaign or that group?

Streep told the story on herself - not as a criticism of Julia - but
as an answer to a question about whether she'd ever met the her.
Streep explained that she contacted Julia because she'd foolishly
assumed that as a chef who encouraged the use of the very best
ingredients, she'd have an appreciation for organic foods and might
wish to publicly endorse the idea. At that time, Streep said the
concept of raising/marketing organic foods was pretty new and Child
wasn't interested. She made a point of saying that years later -
after Alice Waters came along - Julia changed her mind about "organic"
foods and embraced the philosophy.

> > Entirely possible that as a creative business person, Julia may have
> > felt that Julie was intruding on her own well earned stature - in her
> > boots I'd probably have been damned cranky to hear that some young
> > upstart was reaping benefits based on my work and reputation.
>
> > Nancy T
>
> I dunno? After reading "My Life in France" I would have thunk that
> inspiring a young woman to use each and every one of those recipes that
> Julia labored so long and hard over would be a reward to Julia in
> itself! She wanted accuracy, authenticity and yet American user friendly
> recipes in that book. Recipes that would translate well into American
> kitchens as that was her intended audience. I would have thought that
> she would have felt she was successful and proud? Perhaps any crankiness
> was in response to how Streep or others presented themselves to her?

Could be.

She had every reason to be very proud of her success - she did
something quite extraordinary and earned her laurels right and proper.
She did the groundbreaking for all the TV chefs who have trotted along
in her tracks. Although she was revered and financially successful,
I don't think she ever made the the piles of dough that today's high
profile celeb chefs rake in. I'll bet she was very protective about
the use of her name and ideas by another author - even if they were
used in the most flattering way.

At the time Julie got the word that Julia wasn't pleased with her
blog, Julia was quite elderly and may have just given the reporter a
crotchety answer to a damned fool question...Heck, I do it all the
time.

Nancy T