Streep, in Rome to present Julia Child Movie, says she’s no more than OK cook

Meryl Streep promotes ‘Julie & Julia’ at Rome fest

ROME — Meryl Streep may have starred as chef-legend Julia Child, but in real life she says she is nothing more than an OK cook.

The American actress says she watched all of the Julia Child cooking shows in preparing for “Julie & Julia,” including earlier shows from when Child was not yet the cultural icon that America came to know.

“I cook OK. I cook every night, so every night is not great,” Streep said Thursday at the Rome Film Festival. “Every night is OK.”

Streep said she can’t match Child’s dexterity with knives.

“I am really not that adept a cook as she was, especially with that rapid-fire knife,” she said. “If I did that in my kitchen everybody would run because there would be a lot of blood probably.”

The Nora Ephron movie juxtaposes Child’s life with that of a young woman who decides to spend a year cooking all 524 recipes in Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” and blog about it.

Streep was scheduled to collect a career achievement award in Rome on Friday. The festival has been showing a retrospective of her work, from her Oscar-winning performances in “Kramer vs. Kramer” and “Sophie’s Choice” to more recent successes in films such as “The Devil Wears Prada.”

Known for being a perfectionist in her work, starting with her legendary mastery of accent, Streep says it’s the flaws that most interest her in a character.

“It is the human frailty that most interests me in my work,” she said. “To discover what is not perfect.”