Elizabeth David was a British cookery writer who revolutionized the British cooking and changed the way British middle-class cooked
Elizabeth David
@Writers, Timeline and Childhood
Dec 26, 1913
Biography
Personal Details
- Birthday: December 26, 1913
- Died on: May 22, 1992
- Nationality: British
- Famous: Writers, Food Experts, Chefs
- Siblings: Diana, Felicité, Priscilla
- Universities:
- University of Paris
- Gender: Female
In the Oxford Repertory Company, Elizabeth met with an actor nine years her senior, Charles Gibson-Cowan and fell in love with him in 1933. He was married while having an affair with her but it did not bother her.
Unsplash
Personal Life
Both the lovers sailed to Greece in 1938 and travelled to many parts of Europe while on their way to Athens. When they finally reached in Greece, both of them amicably parted their ways and went about their lives.
Unsplash
Personal Life
While Elizabeth was working in Cairo, she had many affairs and did not plan to settle down. But as she was approaching her thirties, she accepted the marriage proposal by Lieutenant-Colonel Tony David and married him in 1944.
Unsplash
Personal Life
Elizabeth David was born in Sussex, England to Rupert Sackville Gwynne and Hon. Stella Ridley. Her father was a Conservative MP for Eastbourne and a junior minister in Andrew Bonar Law’s government. She had three sisters.
Unsplash
Childhood & Early Life
Elizabeth was brought up in an upper-middle class environment. Due to the sad demise of her father when she was only 11 and failure to receive any affection from her mother, she was sent to a boarding school.
Unsplash
Childhood & Early Life
Soon Elizabeth inculcated a taste for art and painting, which is why she was sent to Paris by her mother and got enrolled at the Sorbonne. The moment she finished her course, she was sent to Munich to learn German.
Unsplash
Childhood & Early Life
Elizabeth came back to England and had to go through the conventional rituals of upper-middle class, which she stridently despised. To her mother’s disappointment she decided to pursue acting and joined the Oxford Repertory Company in 1933.
Unsplash
Childhood & Early Life
The life-changing escapades started in Elizabeth’s life when she met Charles Gibson-Cowan with whom she left on a boat to Greece in 1938. Before that she was working as a junior assistant at the fashion house of Worth, England.
Unsplash
Career
Elizabeth along with her lover crossed the English Channel on their boat in 1939 and took a stopover in Marseille and quickly moved to Antibes. There she met writer Norman Douglas who inspired and introduced her to Mediterranean food.
Unsplash
Career
The couple left Antibes in 1940 but the moment they reached Sicily, they were arrested for they were suspected to be spies. They remained in custody for 19 days and all of their possessions were confiscated.
Unsplash
Career
Elizabeth and her partner reached Athens in the same year and decided to settle there. He worked as an English teacher in Syros and she started to learn how to cook. They left for Egypt in 1941.
Unsplash
Career
As Elizabeth was fluent in French and German, she was hired in the naval cipher office, Alexandria. There she savored the flavor of Egyptian food. In 1942, she ran the Ministry of Information’s reference library in Cairo.
Unsplash
Career
The most important work of Elizabeth’s career is considered to be ‘French Provincial Cooking (1960)’, which elaborated on the dishes from interiors of France, culinary terms, herbs and French kitchen equipments. It made French cooking famous in England.
Unsplash
Major Works