Illustrated by Sophie MacCarthy
Introduced by Johnny Grey
This sparkling collection of Elizabeth David’s articles showcases the work of the woman regarded as the ’best food writer of her time’.
In her 35 years of writing about food, Elizabeth David contributed articles to a number of high-profile publications, including the Spectator, Gourmet magazine and Vogue. An Omelette and a Glass of Wine brings together the best of these writings, showcasing David’s unique style and approach to her work. The collection includes recipes, from riso ricco to Welsh salt duck, but here her articles are much broader in scope, and they revolutionised the food-writing genre. Subjects range from surveys of cookery writers from the past, accounts of restaurants and markets in provincial France, and places David loved and delicious meals she enjoyed.
This edition features the black-and-white decorations by Marie Alix from the first publication, as well as new watercolour illustrations by Sophie MacCarthy. A new foreword from David’ nephew and kitchen designer, Johnny Grey, reveals how his affection and respect for his aunt grew from his first visit to her kitchen as a child: ’I felt as if I had entered a magic kingdom.’
Quarter-bound in buckram with textured paper sides printed with a design by the artist
Set in Bembo
376 pages
Frontispiece and 7 colour illustrations, and 20 integrated black & white illustrations
10˝ x 7¼˝
As she writes in her introduction, David began her career when food writing was a rather niche, not to say eccentric, occupation. Articles featuring recipes relied on a stilted formula that, she writes, ’reminded me of English musical comedy’. David broke with that convention. Paying her own way in the days before expense accounts, she sought out the best food, whether in wartime Alexandria or in the markets of 1950s Provence. Most things she proposes now seem common sense – making mayonnaise from scratch, cooking with olive oil or pairing Italian wines with English food (’a Chianti Classico is a wine for roast lamb or a handsome joint of pork’). Yet in 1960s England the arguments for them had to be made, and make them David did, with energy and spirit. Nor did she uncritically praise all things foreign – as her essay on ’Eating Out in Provincial France’ will attest.
Even the titles of these pieces reveal David’s wit, range and erudition: ’South Wind through the Kitchen’, ’A Gourmet in Edwardian London’, ’I’ll Be with You in the Squeezing of a Lemon’. She combines delectable prose with asides as trenchant as a kitchen knife – ’a bad meal is always expensive’. She also touches on the perils of Michelin stars and the joys of solitary dining (’A bottle, madam? A whole bottle?’). Above all, there is an honest relish in the simple pleasures of life – not least an omelette and a glass of wine.
The Folio Book of Food and Drink is an anthology of culinary delights, stimulating appetites with literary extracts including Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Elizabeth David and Nigel Slater. This collection – exclusive to Folio – features a mouthwatering introduction by food writer Jojo Tulloh, and a selection of cartoons and 19th-century illustrations.
Pulitzer Prize-winning scientist Edward O. Wilson’s classic account of evolution and biodiversity remains as relevant as when first published in 1992. The Folio edition of The Diversity of Life features wonderful colour wildlife images and a foreword by Bill McKibben.
The Daughter of Time remains Josephine Tey’s most enduringly popular mystery. Can a bed-ridden 20th-century detective solve a 500-year-old crime? With illustrations by series artist Mark Smith.
