First published: 1999
Publisher: Michael Joseph,
Writing at the Kitchen Table: The Authorised Biography of Elizabeth David
Elizabeth David was born into an upper-class family and pursued a rebellious and bohemian life as a student of art and then as an actress in London, before running off with a married man to Greece and then settling in Cairo, where she worked for the British government. After the Second World War, she returned to England, where she was shocked by poor food into writing first articles, then books on Mediterranean cooking.
‘A Book of Mediterranean Food’ was published in 1950, inspiring a cookery revolution, bringing new flavours and ingredients to the drab, post-war British diet. Over the next few years, David was to become a major influence on British cooking, yet her classic cookery books show little of the colourful personality behind the public persona. Artemis Cooper, in this refreshing biography, reveals an adventurous and uncompromising personality – a woman with a passion for food, life and men. This is the whole story: of her strong friendships, her failed marriage, tempestuous affairs and the greatest love of her life, told with extensive reference to David’s private papers and letters.
