Springbok knuckles, Julia Child and foodie aspirations …

I recently succumbed to the mother of all food blogger porn, Julie and Julia.

Who of us can watch the coming-of-life movie of food legend Julia Child and original food blogger Julie Powell without scratching open all our cooking, writing and living the best life possible passions? To top it all I happened to have some springbok knuckles slow cooking in red wine and apricot jam, which only made the situation all the more romantic. Oh god, why can’t we all live the life of Julia Child, beef bourguignon and Meryl Streep?

Having had every intention of diverting this blog to a self-indulgent spree of my utterly delicious slow-cooked knuckle stew, I’ve decided to take the high road. I can’t quite pretend using a slow cooker over two days to make the softest, tastiest stew in the world is much of an art, no matter how much I try to wing it.

I’d rather take it back to the Julias.

To be very frank, I’ve never heard of either Julie or Julia before the movie. And still after years of loving the story and characters I’ve never read any of their cookbooks, blogs or autobiographies.

You can say I prefer to keep them potted in fantasy.

No story, no matter how romantic, is as exciting without a soft accordion playing as Julia walks the streets of Paris and fawns over fresh seafood and baguette. Just the same Julie’s rise to internet fame. No personal or ugly details, no dirty laundry – the movie is made for family watching after all!

I’m just in love with this whimsical story of food. Sitting in the slump of a mid twenties crises myself with a weaning food blog, I also have foodie dreams very similar to Julie and Julia’s they seemed to simply have stepped in to.

But maybe that’s also the point. Maybe it’s just to enjoy the dream fantasy built around food.

Nowhere in the movie do you see anyone fawning over a delicious plate of food with a hovering iPhone in order to catch the warm light of molten butter. Julie eats, Julia eats, the family and the friends bask in their brilliance.

I love that. Maybe all of us should just eat a little more without stressing about Instagram likes and food blogs making us famous. I guess that’s the Julia in me talking …

Bon Appétit!