Mastering the Art of French Cooking is a two-volume French cookbook written by the American Julia Child and the Frenchwomen Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle for the American market and published by Knopf in 1961 (Volume 1) and 1970 (Volume 2).It was the result of a collaboration among the three authors and the impetus for Child's long and successful career as one of the pioneering television chefs. Originally published in 1961 after some early difficulties, Mastering volume 1 (ISBN 0-375-41340-5) was a broad survey of French flavors and techniques, and grew out of the work the three women had done for their Paris cooking school, "L'école des trois gourmandes" (whose logo Child wore as a badge throughout the production of her first TV series, The French Chef);

Meryl Streep will be playing Julia Child in the Columbia Pictures movie Julie & Julia. The film is an adaptation of the 2005 book by Julie Powell which is based on her blog. A blog she wrote when she spent one year cooking a different recipe every night from Child's classic, Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

Project centers on a frustrated temp secretary who embarks on a yearlong culinary quest to cook all 524 recipes in Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." She chronicles her trials and tribulations in a blog that catches on with the food crowd. But, why not Dan Aykroyd?

Julie Powell has won the first award for books based on blogs over 89 other contenders. Powell's blog was her adventures in trying to cook the recipes from Julia Childs' book "Mastering the Art of French Cooking", entitled "Julie an Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, and 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen"