Elizabeth David brought Italian and French food to Britain and she has been named as the most important British food writer of the last century. Considerable accolades for a woman many of us have never heard of.
Aubergines, olives and lemon; three ingredients we take for granted, maybe always have in our kitchens and can certainly find in the vast majority of supermarkets. But these foods, along with garlic, basil, fresh tomatoes and even pasta were almost entirely unobtainable when Elizabeth David wrote her first book about Mediterranean food in 1950. At a time when olive oil could only be purchased in a chemist, publishing a book which called for it in many of its savoury dishes was a risky move for Elizabeth and her publishers. But after years of war and austerity, her book of recipes for sunnier days came at the right moment in time. Rationing was still in full swing, but somehow, she became a success with books of food for better days to come.
Elizabeth David was born in 1913 to a wealthy Conservative MP, Rupert Sackville Gwynne and his wife Stella and grew up conformably in Suffolk. She studied at the Sorbonne in Paris and moved in with a French family while at university there. This family's traditional French cooking sparked her interest in the food of the region.
Elizabeth was ambitious, always keen for adventure and did not conform to expectations for a woman of her standing. In the late 1930s, during World War II, she travelled further through France and sailed around the Mediterranean with a boyfriend in his yacht, learning more about the food and the people there. The boat was confiscated and she and her companion escaped to Greece in 1940, until it was invaded by the Nazis and they fled to Egypt, where the couple parted. She moved to Cairo, met her future husband and through employing a Greek and Sudanese chef, expanded her knowledge of food further.
"You're a bit frightened of her, but you want her approval"
After a few years in Egypt, the end of the World War II and the break down of her marriage, Elizabeth returned to England to live with her sister. It was during this time, living in post-war London with none of the foods which she had come to love, that she started writing. It began as simply writing down everything she missed, reliving the memories of her time in France, Italy and Egypt. Soon, she was writing out full recipes. She began writing a food column for Harper’s Bazaar in the 1947 and her first book followed shortly after. Elizabeth wanted to "bring a flavour of those blessed lands of sun and sea and olive trees" to England. She wrote eight books in her lifetime, exploring French and Italian cookery primarily, but moving to cover the history of foods in England in later years.
Her books aren’t written in a traditional cookery format. While there are pages of recipes, she also leads each section with a detailed discussion. In her 1953 book, Summer Cooking, the introduction to her opening chapter on herbs has almost as many ideas for their use as the recipes themselves. She ambles through how to prepare peas with mint and butter, as if describing it over a glass of wine on a summer’s evening. Her books offer recipes, varying in degree of difficulty and number of steps. But they also offer a frank and passionate discussion about food and how Elizabeth thinks we should approach it.
"apricots, olives and butter, rice and lemons, oil and almonds ... in the England of 1947, those were dirty words"
She was an avid advocate for eating seasonally after experiencing the abundance of each month while living abroad. Writing at a time when frozen foods were becoming an increasingly popular back up for many, she waged war against the deep freeze. She heavily criticised the use of frozen foods as replacement for the fresh and plentiful of the season. In Summer Cooking, Elizabeth complains about the availability of peas, strawberries and raspberries all year round, thanks to the freezer. They may be an adequate option for those who are without, she wrote, but the constant availability blunts the pleasure of rediscovering each season's offerings every year. Despite the strength of her influence on the foods we eat, the wait for summer peas and berries could not be born and eating purely according to season remains unusual for most of us.
Elizabeth only gave one televised interview and few to papers or magazines. She disliked publicity of any kind, saying "everything I want to say is in my books". During her lifetime, she was dubbed the “doyenne” or “grande dame” of cookery writers, which she also disliked. Upon being presented with this title by an American journalist interviewing her she said “I would ask you not to use that phrase… it suggests some ghastly old dragon who’s stamping about with an ebony stick”.
She was dubbed the Grande Dame or Doyenne of cooker writers, which she disliked, saying"it suggests some ghastly old dragon".
As she wished though, her books do appear to speak for her personality. Her writing is crisp, concise and to the point. She instructs and educates, mocks and praises and leaves the reader with a wish to gain her respect. As the writer of the film about Elizabeth's life, Amanda Coe, once wrote, "you’re a bit frightened of her, but you want her approval".
After Elizabeth died in 1992, her belongings were sold at auction. The auction room was packed, with little standing room. Her followers had flocked to buy any keepsake they could; utensil jars, plates, spoons. The Michelin star chef, cookery writer and cookery school owner Prue Leith paid £1,100 for David’s kitchen table, reportedly exclaiming upon winning the bid, “She was the most important cookery writer of this century! And I’m going to cook on it, just like she did!”
Elizabeth David’s impact on food in Britain is hard to overstate. She has been named as a key influence by Prue Leith, Nigella Lawson, Nigel Slater, Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall. Her influence continues, perhaps under the radar, in our love for and ability to easily purchase French and Italian foods in Britina. The basic availability of ingredients to prepare Mediterranean foods can be easily traced to the appearance of her books. Despite disliking attention, Elizabeth was aware of her impact,"apricots, olives and butter, rice and lemons, oil and almonds ... later, I came to realise that in the England of 1947, those were dirty words that I was putting down.”
Text C. Polly Dennison
Images: Elizabeth David Estate
