With the encouragement of a friend, Veronica Nicholson, Elizabeth continued to write articles for ‘Harper’s Bazaar’. As Elizabeth owned the copyright of these articles, Elizabeth began to put together the material for a book. Elizabeth submitted her manuscript to a number of publishers, all of whom turned her down. Revising her manuscript to include extensive quotes from established authors, she resubmitted the manuscript to John Lehmann, a publisher, and he accepted the work, with an advanced payment of £1oo. ‘A Book of Mediterranean Food’ with illustrations by John Minton, was published in June 1950. The book was generally very well received and Elizabeth Nicholas, writing in ‘The Sunday Times’, thought Elizabeth ‘a gastronome of rare integrity’. The success of the book led to offers of work from ‘The Sunday Times’ and ‘Wine and Food’, the journal of the Wine and Food Society. After a short holiday, Elizabeth settled back into her Chelsea home and invited her sister, Felicité, to move into the top flat of the house.