In yesterday’s post, I sang the praises of Julia Child, the queen of food TV who did much for America’s pallid palette (and who unfortunately is no longer with us to do more, because we need it).

As people anticipate and talk about the movie “Julie and Julia,” much is being made of Child’s reaction to the movie’s other namesake, Julie Powell, who blogged about her experiences attempting to cook in one year the 500-plus recipes in Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Granted, Child is not here to explain herself. But according to her longtime book editor Judith Jones, Child thought of Powell’s blog as “a stunt”; of Powell, Child said, “I don’t think she’s a serious cook.”

Now, I'm all for authenticity, but I think Child fell into the all-too-common trap of pegging someone as inauthentic when, really, she was blazing a new trail. Powell was using a newish medium to try to do something interesting with her life, in spite of her cramped Queens apartment and mind-numbing job. (Full disclosure: Perhaps I am a bit protective of Powell, because before I was a professional cook, I, too, went through Child’s “Mastering.” But I failed more than Powell, couldn’t get my hands on some of the products I needed, and didn’t have the determination or iron stomach to keep at it.)

Anyway, I think Powell had a story to tell, and a message to share with her readers. And I give her credit for ignoring the haterz, who, dare I say, may have included Child herself.
 
As for Child: She was a blessing, an awesome talent, a mentor to many young chefs; but as it turns out, she was also a bit of an elitist about this newfangled thing called a blog. That said, I’m going to give her a pass because it was 2003, a time when many people didn’t get blogging because it wasn't mainstream; plus, she’s Julia Child.

But if you’re still one of the haterz in 2009, you don’t get a pass, at least not from me. It’s time to stop demeaning bloggers because “they’re not journalists” or because “anyone can blog” or because in reality "you don’t get it.” If a blog can become a book and then a movie, it really doesn’t matter if some blogs suck or if you don’t get it or if blogs don’t take the same approach as the inverted pyramid. Powell is living proof that this blogging thing can change your life, reason enough for me to keep trying.