Leaving the thoroughly delightful new movie Julie & Julia I was torn between what I wanted to do most – purchase some Brie, a French baguette and bottle of red wine, or adjourn to my kitchen to create a culinary masterpiece. Meryl Streep is outstanding in capturing the master chef, while Amy Adams plays a young writer and cook who emulates her, only to find herself in the process.

The story is full of laughter, love and delights for food enthusiasts, yet offers several key messages as well. Julia Child stumbled on the hobby that would forever change America’s culinary landscape when she moved to Paris with her husband Paul, a foreign diplomat. Always an active woman, she soon felt the need to find something to fill her days. She insightfully knew to follow her passion – FOOD – and discovered a niche that only she could fill – making French cooking accessible to American cooks. After an unsuccessful search for an English language cookbook on French cooking, Julia enrolled in The Cordon Bleu cooking school, an act that set in motion a sea change in food preparation for cooks the world over. She met two French gourmands and joined them in their quest to publish a French cookbook in America. She persevered when many others would have long given up. From start to final publication her masterpiece, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, took nearly 10 years. This first cookbook led to many, many others, a television series and propelled her into a class of her own in professional cooking.

What is your passion in life? Are you following it? What niche can you fill with your unique gifts and perspectives? Do you have the stamina to stay with your dream until you succeed, pushing aside disbelief, rejection, and lack of support? Julia Child, even today after her passing, so eloquently demonstrates what a wonderful, life changing world awaits if we only follow our dreams, fill the niche that only we can, and never give up until we succeed.

Bon Appetit!