Julia Child's down-to-earth personality and "have no fear" mantra extend all the way to Utah, empowering home cooks, chefs, restaurant owners and even food writers. Her landmark cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking -- and subsequent cooking shows on public television -- provided the knowledge and the passion to attempt everything from cassoulet to croissants .

The Salt Lake Tribune asked a group of these Utah "foodies" -- who watched an advance screening of "Julie & Julia" recently -- to share a personal Julia moment. Here are a few of our favorite stories:

» Salt Lake City resident Vicky Cordova has a Julia moment whenever she prepares the recipe for cassoulet, from the first edition of Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking , published in 1961. Cordova's father, Jarvis Anderson, gave her the prized cookbook after he started losing his eyesight and could no longer read the recipes.

"The cookbook was given to my dad by his in-laws, my mother's parents," Cordova explained. "He gave it to me along with boxes of other books because I'm the only one who will make Julia cassoulet for him."

While the rich, slow-cooked French stew made with beans and lamb takes several hours (actually days, if you count soaking the dried beans) to make, Cordova, an avid cook and mother of two young children, indulges her grateful father several times a year.

» When Child's name is mentioned, Angel Manfredini thinks of her father, Greg Skedros, who founded the The Mandarin restaurant in Bountiful.

"He's the French cook in the family," said Manfredini, who works alongside her father as general manager. "He's a pharmacist and likes the chemistry and science part of cooking. A five-page recipe is not intimidating to him."

Manfredini said Mastering the Art of French Cooking has been part of the family's cookbook collection for several decades. It sits on a shelf in her father's bedroom. (The kitchen shelves are loaded with other cookbooks.) "My father refers to it all the time, saying 'Julia Child says this' or 'Julia Child says that.' "

» Tamara Gibo, co-owner of Takashi restaurant (along with husband Takashi Gibo), also can attribute her interest in all things culinary to Mastering the Art of French Cooking .

"My mother had an English friend who taught me how to make puff pastry and croissants. She was a very traditional French cook who, I know, used Julia's recipes. She's the one that really turned me onto food."

» Years ago, Virginia Rainey attended a food writers' symposium where Child was one of the speakers. She can't remember what the famed cook said in her presentation. But Rainey does remember being impressed that after her speech, Child attended the remaining seminars "just like the other students, listening intently and taking notes."

» Kalyn Denny pays homage to Julia every year on Aug. 15 -- the food maven's birthday -- by posting one of Child's recipes on her food blog, Kalyn's Kitchen.

Denny posted Spaghetti Marco Polo, a recipe in the cookbook From Julia Child's Kitchen , a few years ago. The recipe name is a bit of joke, she said, since spaghetti really came from China. In fact, when Child made the recipe on her TV program, she urged viewers to eat the spaghetti with chopsticks. It's those kinds of charming comments that endeared Child to cooks everywhere.

Child died in 2004, when food blogs were still in their infancy. "But I imagine that if she were alive today she might very much enjoy seeing how the love for delicious food is being shared in a whole new way on the Internet," Denny said.

» Mary Brown Malouf, the food editor at Salt Lake Magazine, attended a lunch at Child's house in Boston, which has since been moved to the Smithsonian.

"It looked just like the one in the movie, including the cool peg boards where Paul, her husband, had traced around the pans," Malouf said.

What struck Malouf was that despite Child's fame, the kitchen wasn't the expensive -- or expansive -- gourmet kitchen found in today's homes. "It was homey and unassuming. It was a kitchen that someone really lived in and used."

kathys@sltrib.com