Julie and Julia

Julie and Julia. It was a great movie. The acting was wonderful, and who wouldn't expect that from such professionals as Amy Adams and the incomparable Meryl Streep?

How could I, a vegetarian and winged/four-legged rights advocate, enjoy all these animal-flesh-and-product-ridden frames of film?

The color was gorgeous: vivid shots of Julie's dark New York flat and tiny kitchen juxtaposed against those of Julia Child's and the Cordon Bleu in 1949 Paris, glimpses of simmering stews and spinning sauces. The complete absorption into the passion for cooking portrayed by the film divas was infectious.

Those factors got me past the de-boning of the duck, the hacking and the boiling of live lobsters...much like the happy scenes get me past the bloody, violent ones in action or war films.

Julie adores cooking...and Julia Child. She challenges herself to a one-year experiment: to prepare every one of Julia Child's recipes...500 plus...and blog about them..

Ok, so this already sounds like an attempt at a movie review. It isn't. These are simply my vegetarian thoughts and my vegetarian reaction to this colorful food film...because not one of Julia Child's recipes featured in the film was vegan. Everything had at least one animal product in it, usually butter. There was reference to a cucumber dish, but unless I missed something (and I didn't get up to use the facilities) there was no shot of such a prep, not even a frame of a cucumber.

Julia Child was said to have "wondered if vegetarians ever really enjoyed a meal". Oh, Julia..! Of course we have enjoyed our meals! You obviously never tasted what I would call a 'real' vegetarian meal, any more than you actually read Julie's blog. :)

Did you ever, ever taste olive oil? Sesame oil? Tahini? Orange bean curd? Teriaki tempeh? Roasted corn without butter? Not every vegetarian or vegan dish is bland. Some vegetarian and vegan cooks actually do a good job, and now there are vegetarian, raw and vegan gourmet restaurants springing up all over the place. So someone SOMEWHERE, must be enjoying non-animal-derived food.

While not judging anyone here, Julia or Julie, I really want to accept the challenge to address this issue. Here are some possiblities:

• Do what Julie did, only the vegetarian version. Yeah right.


• Review vegan, raw and vegetarian restaurants from time to time, and blog about them. Maybe...starting with Zephyr in Long Beach.


• Experiment with vegetarian alternatives to some of Julia's most popular recipes, and blog about that experience. Cooking is all about chemistry, so this would be a challenge. Changing the chemical components of the animal dishes to non-animal dishes. This would be especially tricky with recipes involving cow cream and butter. I know this just from changing the milk from whole to non-fat in a quiche recipe once. :)

I'll think about more ideas and blog about them tomorrow. Meanwhile...what is my issue here? Why do I feel I might want to take this on? Because I truly believe it's possible to enjoy life and to relish food in a cruelty-free way...and if I can prove that point...people will have a scrumptious option while fewer animals fall victim to 'life is a bitch and then you die'.

Until tomorrow...peace.