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Movie Resurrecting Brand Julia Child

Have a venerable brand that's been in the doldrums for a decade or two? Here's a surefire solution: Get Nora Ephron to write a movie about it. Then get Meryl Streep to play the lead. Then thrown in a healthy dollop of a fresh face like Amy Adams to spice it all up. What you'll get is something resembling the resurgence of Julia Child following the opening of the movie "Julie & Julia" last week.

Americans are rediscovering the author and former TV chef Child big time, Tiffany Hsu and Jerry Hirsch report, and she also is "captivating a new generation of food lovers." Child's classic first effort, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, took the No. 1 spot on Amazon's most-popular list over the weekend. Julia's Kitchen Wisdom is also doing well, as are several of Child's baking books and My Life in France, says Justin Junge, book department manager at Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena, Calif.

"Julie & Julia" was a phenomenon waiting to happen, it appears, as Americans seem to be taking comfort in food in these otherwise trying times. "It has tapped into our longing for joie de vivre in the kitchen," says Alice Waters, chef-owner of Chez Panisse in Berkeley. "Cooking is not drudgery," as my mother never said. "Cooking is about pleasure."

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