Tryon Fine Arts Center will bring its films series on the delights of food and drink to a spectacular close with the showing of the award-winning film “Julie & Julia” on Tuesday, May 2 at 7 p.m. Prior to the screening there will be a gala inspired by the culinary expertise of Julia Child, beginning at 5:30 p.m. Reservations are strongly suggested for the limited-admission gala.

Of the book “Mastering the Art of French Cooking,” which Julia Child authored, along with Louisette Bertholle and Simone Beck, New York Times critic A. O. Scott wrote, “. . . stands with few other postwar touchstones – including Dr. Benjamin Spock’s “Baby and Child Care,” the Kinsey Report and Dr. Seuss’s “Cat in the Hat” – as a publication that fundamentally altered the way a basic human activity was perceived and pursued.”

The book contains 524 meticulously described and tested recipes of national and regional dishes of France, and the movie, “Julie & Julia” is a true story about a young woman, Julie Powell, who sets herself the task of completing every recipe in one year and sharing that experience with an online audience through her own live blog posting, “The Julie/Julia Project.”

The film follows the early married lives of the two title characters – Julie (Amy Adams) and Julia (Meryl Streep) – and the massive challenges each encounters in their respective cooking marathons the first spent in Paris in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and the latter in the first decade the 21st century.

Meryl Streep won an astonishing 13 awards and an additional 14 nominations for her charismatic portrayal of the larger-than-life French chef, Julia Child. Nora Ephron, the film’s director and screenwriter, is also an accomplished cook who personally tested every recipe presented in the film and would accept nothing short of perfection.

The film will be introduced by Jim Tabb, a local culinary expert who will share his unique experience of working with Julia Child.

The gala reception prior to the showing of the film will feature several of Julia Child’s recipes prepared by local culinary perfectionists, including the restaurants at the Tryon International Equestrian Center, which has sponsored the entire series.

To reserve a place at the table at the gala, contact the TFAC box office at 828-859-8322 or visit tryonarts.org. No reservations are required for the movie.

Article submitted by Frances Flynn