48 Years Later, Julia Child Tops Bestseller List

Nearly half a century after it was published, Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking is entering the New York Times bestseller list—at No. 1. The film Julie & Julia, starring Meryl Streep as the famous chef, has electrified sales of the cookbook despite its antiquated recipes calling for artery-clogging amounts of butter. The book sold 22,000 copies last week, more than any full year since its publication.

"I found the recipes, actually, much easier than I thought they were going to be, but the amount of butter was a bit overwhelming," one Oregon woman told the Times after making Child's recipe for herbed chicken. "My husband loved it and asked if we could have it again the next day. I actually said we probably shouldn’t have this in the same month." (More Julia Child stories.)