Elizabeth David

by Lisa Chaney

Elizabeth A Biography. A Mediterranean Passion

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Cooking

482 pages, Paperback

First published November 20, 1998

Reviews

[Len · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this biography the quality of Elizabeth David's writing about food and culinary habits comes through loud and clear. Elizabeth David as a person is somewhat more distant. The author does not seem to have made up her mind as to who Elizabeth David was. The pampered offspring of a privileged family who looked down on those she considered beneath her as that was her right? A spoiled child by nature who would never be satisfied unless she gained her own way and even then would expect more? A talented writer driven by a mission to bring British attitudes to food to new levels of taste and preparation? A thoughtful educator, possibly even a philosopher of gastronomy? Someone with a turbulent personal life who not only could not stomach those she regarded as fools but found it difficult to retain friendships or even a marriage when she tired of them? She may have been all of those simultaneously, yet I felt the author could have delved a little deeper to find why she behaved as she did.

I had a feeling that I would not have liked her very much, though I would have eaten all her food with relish, and I am fairly sure she would not have liked me. There was no chance that our lives would ever have crossed. Liverpool may have been no more than a rumour to her while, to me, Halsey Street in Chelsea may as well have been a gated compound offering luxurious security to the wealthy. I was usually short of cash and rarely complained, only because complaining led nowhere. Elizabeth David, while making a habit of remarking on a neediness that was borderline poverty, always seemed able to find some money with the dexterity of a magician in possession of a hat and a rabbit. So, no, we were very unlike each other.

Even so I have an absolute admiration for her writing. It is good to know there was at least one cook who did not rely on ghost writers to churn out recipe books. (Happy days!) All of her books - and articles - are worth reading, even Harvest of the Cold Months, not only for the recipes but for the literary quality which brings forward the part cookbook, part travelogue and part discussion of life and how it should be lived.

An OK biography, an enthralling subject.

[Jon Blanchard · Rating 3 out of 5]

After her death there were two biographies of the grande dame of British cooking, an official one by Artemis Cooper and another buy Lisa Chaney.
Elizabeth David said that all you needed to know about her was in her books, and Chaney relates all of her books to her personal life and character, which is not what you would expect from a cookery book. Chaney, unlike Cooper, can provide rather literary and lengthy background. David was born in Sussex so we get several pages evoking the South Downs, which in fact played very little part in David’s life.

Although Cooper is the official biographer she provides far more information about David’s turbulent romantic life. Both biographers give anecdotes to show the contempt in which David held her unfortunate husband, Tony David, but Cooper describes the history of their relationship in some detail which Chaney does not.

Reading both books about someone whose books give me great pleasure, particularly her journalism, I got the impression that I would not have liked to know her personally. Chaney spells our her imperiousness and her high Tory attitudes, but Cooper does not gloss over her dropping old friends.

Although Cooper is the shorter book, she provides more information. She ends her book with an account of the memorial service and subsequent meal: “The best way to remember Elizabeth, then as now, was at a table with wine and talk and friends”.

The trouble is I wonder how many friends she had left after the way she treated some of them.

[Xander Ring · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very enjoyable biography about the woman who changed British cuisine (thank god) through her "cookery" books. My interest in Elizabeth David was sparked by a copy of her Italian Cooking that was tucked away in the house that we were renting in Spain. Her cookery books can be read as travelogues, history or cooking guides. During the week that I read this my cooking started to be influenced by Ms. David. A slight life perhaps but where would England be without her? A land of boiled swedes and mushy peas.

[Helen Wood]

I have to admit that I didn't finish this - it was very long and very detailed! A great overview of Elizabeth David as a person, the history of the time and her food influences. As it needed to go back to the CAE, I'll finish it at another time!!

[Jenny Housley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite interesting and informative.