toledoblade.com --

The Columbia Pictures film Julie and Julia starring Meryl Streep as the legendary chef has created a cooking phenomenon nationwide as well as locally.

The Julia Child cookbooks are in short supply, with the publisher going back to press 39 times to meet demand. In Perrysburg, the Julie and Julia Class at Kitchen Tools & Skills sold out so fast that two more dates were scheduled in August, two in September, and three in October.

When Pat Venzke's daughter, Cara Scott, was home for four days, after graduating from the University of Colorado and having a summer job in Nantucket and leaving for Portland, Ore., for more education, the duo attended the first class. "We like to cook," says Mrs. Venzke of Holland. "When she's home, every time we make something."

The Saturday after the class the mother and daughter tried to recreate the Kitchen Tools & Skills menu, except "in place of the beef, we had crab legs. We did very well. We were thrilled."

The ambitious menu at the class is Moules a la Mariniere (mussels steamed in wine), Boeuf a la Bourguignonne (beef in red wine with bacon, onions, and mushrooms), Crepes De Pommes De Terre (potato pancakes), Haricots Verts a la Anglaise (buttered green beans), Tomatoes a la Provencale (tomatoes stuffed with bread crumbs, herbs, and garlic), and gateau de crepes a la Normande (mound of crepes with apples, flambe).

It's a big menu for four cooking teachers on the staff at Kitchen Tools to accomplish in two hours in a small space for 12 students. The first class on Aug. 19 ran an hour longer than expected, but by Aug. 26 owner Sharon Dela Hamaide says the class went better timewise.

Her next-door neighbor suggested the class. "We had no idea it would be this popular," said Mrs. Dela Hamaide. The first two classes sold out in five days and they will have repeated the original class seven times by mid-October.

At the first class, Julie Shanks of Bedford, Mich., was impressed with teacher Sara Stevens, who prepared the green beans and the "tomato gratin to die for." She also liked the decor the staff planned, with black-and-white-checked tablecloths and Le Creuset pottery pitchers. "I want to learn more about French cooking," said Ms. Shanks, who's studying French.

For instructor Geoff McKahan, "the interesting part was explaining French cooking in the 1940s and 1950s and the French style today of bistro style with smaller portions."

"We talked a lot about how food has changed," said Mrs. Dela Hamiade after the first class. People are coming from near and from as far away as Cleveland. There are first-time students like Adria Pugh of Perrysburg as well as devotees of the Kitchen Tools series of cooking classes such as Linda Coon of Toledo.

Ms. Coon attended the Julie and Julia class because of the movie. "It has created a lot of interest [in Julia Child]," she said. "It was a neat Julia Child party." She really liked the potato pancakes recipe and "I tried mussels for the first time. I would have never ordered these in a restaurant." Now she will.

According to publisher Knopf, Mastering the Art of French Cooking has become a No. 1 national bestseller for the first time. It was first published 50 years ago. In an unprecedented posthumous publishing trifecta, Mastering will be joined by two of Child's other volumes: Julia's Kitchen Wisdom and My Life in France, Julia Child's memoir.

"This film is inspiring people," says Paul Bogaards, executive vice president Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group of Random House in a phone interview. "It has the most lasting impact. Mastering is among one of the great teaching cookbooks."

When people leave the movie, "you don't want to be a chef. You want to go home and make something for your loved ones. Both Julie and Julia find their identities in cooking. The film is very inspirational."

Mr. Bogaards worked with Julia Child since 1989 when she published Way to Cook. "That was her biggest contemporary best seller (then) with 350,000 copies the first year," he said.

"Traveling with Julia Child, I'll never forget it. She was hysterically funny. She would always listen. The impact she had on people's lives was clear when people came up and said, 'thank you for teaching me to cook.'"

Backlist sales of Julia Child's books have exploded following the release of Julie & Julia. Sales for Child's books are so strong that the publisher had to go back to press 39 times in the past month. Consumers will see the new supply in the next few weeks according to Mr. Bogaards.

As of this date, there were a few spots open for the Oct. 20 Julie and Julia cooking class at Kitchen Tools & Skills. Call 419-872-9090.

Kathie Smith is The Blade's food editor.

Contact her at:
food@theblade.com
or 419-724-6155.