Julia Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” is a bestseller
Almost half a century after it was first published, Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child is a No. 1 bestseller. Since this summer’s release of Julie & Julia—Nora Ephron’s new film about Child’s illustrious culinary career—sales of the book have skyrocketed. “Pretty much by the Sunday after the movie opened, it just looked like a bomb hit,” says Gerry Donaghy, purchasing supervisor at Powell’s Books in Portland, Oregon. Last week alone, 22,000 copies of the 752-page cookbook were sold, according to Nielsen BookSkan. That’s more copies than were purchased any other year since the book’s release 48 years ago. On August 30, the book will debut in the No. 1 spot on the New York Times best-seller list, advice and how-to category. The only thing that has some new chefs squirming? “I’m looking at these ingredients going, Oh, sweet Lord, we’ll die,” says Melissah Bruce-Weiner, a 45-year-old who just bought the cookbook, referring to the copious amounts of cream and butter called for in Child’s recipes. Child is famous for saying, “Oh, butter never hurt you.”