'Julie & Julia' food writer Julie Powell dead at 49
Julie Powell, best known as a food writer and the inspiration behind the 2009 movie "Julie & Julia," has died at the age of 49.
Her husband, Eric Powell, confirmed to The New York Times on Tuesday that the author died of a cardiac arrest on Oct. 26 at their home in Olivebridge, New York.
Powell gained popularity in the early 2000s as the online food blogger behind the ambitious project aimed at cooking every recipe in one of the most principal cookbooks, Julia Child's 1961 "Mastering the Art of French Cooking."
Powell chronicled her journey of tackling all 524 recipes of the famed cookbook.
She went on to write the bestselling book "Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen" based on the blog project.
In 2009, the movie "Julie & Julia" was released, starring Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Stanley Tucci and Chris Messina. The biographical film follows the life of chef Julia Child in the 1950s, the early years of her career, and modern-day New Yorker Julie Powell, who is frustrated with her life, but soon finds a larger purpose when she decides to conquer 524 of Child's recipes in 365 days.
The movie clocked in nearly $129.5 million at the box office.
Powell's writing was witty, at times self-deprecating and famously unpretentious while she was in the kitchen.
She was one of the first to pioneer the now-ubiquitous "relatable" online food blog.
"There, I was just a secretary-shaped confederation of atoms, fighting the inevitability of mediocrity and decay. But here, in the Juliaverse... energy was never lost, merely converted from one form to another," Powell wrote in "Julie & Julia." "Here, I took butter and cream and meat and eggs and I made delicious sustenance."
Judy Clain, the editor of "Julie & Julia, remembered Powell as a "brilliant writer and a daring, original person."
”JULIE AND JULIA became an instant classic and it is with gratitude for her unique voice that we will now remember Julie’s dazzling brilliance and originality," Clain, now editor-in-chief of Little, Brown and Company, said in a statement. "We mourn her loss with her husband Eric and her family."
"We are sending our deepest condolences to all who knew and loved Julie, whether personally or through the deep connections she forged with readers of her memoirs," Clain continued. "She was a brilliant writer and a daring, original person and she will not be forgotten."
