Biographies

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These biographies on CooksInfo hold the stories of people, restaurants, and companies who are famous for their role in food world history somewhere, at some time.

Agnes Bertha Marshall

Agnes Bertha Marshall was a celebrity London cook in the mid 1800s, and the author of four cookbooks. She was one of the first people to serve ice cream in edible cones.

Ainsley Harriott is an English TV celebrity chef and a best-selling cookbook author who has also been known from time-to-time for his comedic and singing talents. He is the son of a famous jazz pianist.

Alessandro Filippini

Alessandro Filippini was a famous chef at Delmonico's Restaurant in New York, and a cookbook author in the second half of the 1800s.

Alexis Benoit Soyer: Chef and Food Writer

Alexis Benoit Soyer was a famous French chef and food author whose career actually mostly took place in England.

Anthimus: Author of the last Roman Cookbook

Anthimus wrote what is probably the last 'cookbook' to come out of the western Roman Empire, "De observatione ciborum."

Antony Worrall Thompson

Antony Worrall Thompson is an English celebrity cook. He has published many books, has owned and run several restaurants and been on food programmes on TV.

Archestratus: A gourmand in the world of Classical Greece

Archestratus was a Greek gourmand who lived around 350 BC in Sicily. Though probably too upper-class to have been a cook himself, he was an opinionated food critic who made his preferences and dislikes very clear.

Arnold Reuben: New York Restaurateur

Arnold Reuben was the owner of the famous Reuben’s Restaurant and Delicatessen in New York. His biggest claim to fame was his sandwiches. He would name sandwiches after celebrities who were regular customers.

Athenaeus of Naucratis: Gourmand and Food Writer

Athenaeus was a classical Greek gourmand who recorded culinary information about the incredible interconnected, cosmopolitan Romano-Graeco world of the Mediterranean in classical times.

Bartolomeo Scappi: Renaissance Cook and Food Writer

Bartolomeo Scappi was a Renaissance Italian cook who cooked for six Popes. He wrote a famous cookbook that captured the shift between medieval and renaissance cooking.

Bick's Pickles

The Bicks family were Jewish refugees who fled Germany before the start of WWII and went on to start a pickle empire in Canada.

Billy Reed

Billy Reed was the founder of New York's swank "Little Club", and was the first in the United States to serve up Caesar Salad and Doris Day.

Catherine de Medici

Catherine de Medici is credited with being France's first Foodie Queen, and introducing many food innovations to France. It's a great story, but how much is true?

Catherine Emily Callbeck Dalgairns

Catherine Dalgairns was a Canadian / Scottish woman interested in cookery. She wrote "The Practice of Cookery Adapted to the Business of Every-day Life", first published in 1829.

César Ritz: Hotelier to the stars

César Ritz was the first, great modern hotelier. He created the concept of the "grand hotel", which turned out to also be the perfect stage for the "grande cuisine" being created by his business partner, Auguste Escoffier.

Charles E. Hires

Charles E. Hires was the first person to commercially brew root beer, though he didn't invent it. He first sold it as a dry powder that you mixed up at home.

Charles Elmé Francatelli: Victorian Celebrity Chef

Charles Elmé Francatelli was a Victorian celebrity chef. He wrote several important cookbooks, and held three of the most prestigious cooking positions in England.

Charles Mason Hovey

Charles Mason Hovey was the author of "The Fruits of America". A plant breeder, he developed the "Hovey Strawberry" and promoted the zinfandel grape.

Charles Ranhofer: Famous Victorian Chef

Charles Ranhofer was a chef at the famous Delmonico's Restaurant in New York, and author of an 1890s popular cookbook.

Clarissa Dickson Wright

Clarissa Dickson Wright was an English celebrity cook who gained overnight fame as one of the two principals on the TV series called "Two Fat Ladies."

Clementine Paddleford

Clementine Paddleford was an American food writer and editor. She chased her dreams all the way from small-town Kansas to the Herald-Tribune in New York. She wrote for Gourmet Magazine for nearly 15 years, right from its first issue.

Constance Spry: English Food Writer

Constance Spry was an English food writer, and co-founder of the Constance Spry Cordon Bleu School of Cookery in London.

Crosse & Blackwell

Crosse & Blackwell is the brand name of a well-known English line of foodstuffs founded in London in 1829.

Delia Smith

Delia Smith is a cook book writer and food television celebrity in England. A recommendation from her for a certain food ingredient or cooking tool guarantees it will disappear from the shelves.

Delmonico's Restaurant

Delmonico's Restaurant was the first luxury restaurant in New York, and for almost 100 years defined "haute cuisine" in America.

Dione Lucas

Dione Lucas was one of the first celebrity cooks on TV at the dawn of the television era in America. Based in New York, her cooking shows started in 1947.

Egon Ronay: Restaurant Critic

Egon Ronay was one of the world's most famous restaurant reviewers. The reviews were conducted anonymously and to maintain his integrity he would never accept any gifts or free items from restaurants or hotels.

Elena Molokhovets: Russian Food Writer

Elena Ivanovna Molokhovets is Russia's equivalent to the U.S.'s Fannie Farmer and Britain's Mrs Beeton. She wrote "A Gift to Young Housewives", a cookbook which also gave directions on household management.

Eliza Acton: Victorian Cookbook Author

Eliza Acton authored two popular Victorian cookbooks. Hers were the first in England to list ingredients separately from the instructions (though she put the ingredients after them.) She was so popular that even Mrs Beeton blatantly plagiarized from her....

Eliza Leslie

Eliza Lesie was perhaps the most popular cookbook writer in 19th century America. Many credit her with even having the first chocolate cake recipe.

Elizabeth Coleman White

Elizabeth Coleman White was the first person to grow cultivated blueberries for commercial production.

Elizabeth Craig

Elizabeth Craig was a prolific 20th century cookbook writer, writing over 40 books. She was Scottish but worked most of her career in England.

Elizabeth David

Elizabeth was the first cookbook writer not to be a home economist or a cook. Her writing style was evocative, descriptive and lavish, talking about food ingredients and drawing on literature and history.

Elizabeth Raffald

Elizabeth Raffald was the author of the popular 18th century book, 'The Experienced English Housekeeper', with over 800 recipes. She was a very modern woman for her times, running several businesses as well.

Fannie Merritt Farmer

Fannie Merritt Farmer wrote one of America's definitive cookbooks, and created standardized North American measurements and recipe formats.

Fanny Cradock

Fanny was one of the first, and most original, celebrity TV food personalities ever. Descriptions of her range from bizarre to high camp to battleaxe.

François Latry

Francois Latry was chef of the Savoy Hotel in London for 23 years. He was a favourite of the press on both sides of the Atlantic, and was pronounced to be the leading chef in Europe of his time.

Francois Pierre de la Varenne

François Pierre de la Varenne was a French chef in the first half of the 1600s. His name is now revered amongst cooks and chefs because he established the foundation for the basics of French cooking.

Francois Vatel

Francois Vatel is known as the great chef who killed himself on the morning of the 24th of April 1671 at Chantilly, France because a delivery of fish didn't arrive.

Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge

Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge was a German chemist. He discovered caffeine and quinine. He also investigated the science behind removing stains, making wines from fruits, and canning meats and vegetables.

Fulvius Lippinus

Quintus Fulvius Lippinus (aka Fulvius Hirpinus) was a Roman who went down in culinary history for his development of certain farming methods, particularly his method of farming and fattening edible water snails.

Gary Rhodes

Gary Rhodes (1960 - 2019) was an English cookbook author, chef, and celebrity TV chef with a passion for re-interpreting classic British food in modern ways. He insisted on seasonal food.

Georges-Auguste Escoffier

Georges-Auguste Escoffier was a French chef and author. He popularized writing out meal menus in the order in which the items would be served, and created now-classic dishes such as Tournedos Rossini, Melba Toast and Peach Melba.

Gino d'Acampo

Gino d'Acampo is a celebrity Italian cook in England, known for his restaurant chain and television appearances. He also writes books and sells branded products in his name.

Gordon Ramsay

Gordon Ramsay is a celebrity chef and cookbook author in England. He is as well-known for his temper as he is for his cooking and his spats with other food personalities.

Gourmet Magazine

Gourmet Magazine ran for nearly 70 years, and came to define a standard in writing and thinking about food which many argue has yet to be replicated. Based in New York, it featured some of the best writers in the English language from around the world,...

Graham Kerr

Graham Kerr was the celebrity chef of the 1970s. He became famous for his one show, the “Galloping Gourmet”. There was butter, cream, wine and laughter. His episodes went so fast that no one was ever really able to write the recipes down. One person who...

Grimod de la Reynière

Grimod de la Reynière was one of the world's first food reviewers and restaurant critics. Eventually run out of Paris at the start of the 1800s for his witty but scathing reviews and observations, he would spend the rest of his life in a château in a...

Harold McGee

Harold McGee is a food writer who has dedicated his life to write about and explaining the science that happens behind cooking.

Harriet Anne de Salis

Harriet Anne de Salis was a prolific author of popular English cookbook and household management author at the end of the Victorian age

Harumi Kurihara

Harumi Kurihara is a celebrity TV homemaker in Japan, and a lifestyle guru. She has a chain of stores and restaurants and has authored many cookbooks.

Henri Charpentier

Henri Charpentier was a French chef who moved to the United States. The rich and famous flocked to his restaurants. He became famous for being known as the inventor of Crêpe Suzette.

Henry John Heinz

Henry John Heinz founded a empire of commercially-prepared foods. One of his big innovations was gaining consumers' trust by selling his food products in clear glass bottles, so you could see what you were getting.

Hermitage Restaurant

The Hermitage Restaurant was a famous restaurant in Moscow operating for over 50 years. All the Russian greats, from Turgenev, Dostoyevsky and Tchaikovsky to the Czar ate there. Le beau monde came there for glittering suppers after ballet and theatre...

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

Life and Times Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is an English food personality and writer who seems to embody many of the food trends that were popular at the turn of the 21st century. In fact, for him, food at times seems more "political" than it does seem...

Irma Rombauer

Life and Times Irma Rombauer was the author of one of America's most influential cookbooks to date, "The Joy of Cooking." The story of the book, though, is the story of both her and her daughter, Marion. The "Joy of Cooking" is still one of the most...

Isabella Mary Beeton

Life and Times Anyone who has heard of Mrs Beeton probably thinks of her as a stately, stout, tough matron, the kind that went out into the world to beat back the bush in the name of God and Queen. In fact, she died young, just shy of 29 years old [ref]28...

James John Howard Gregory

James John Howard Gregory ran an important seed catalogue business which helped introduce vegetables now considered heirloom stock such as the Hubbard Squash and the Burbank potato. He also wrote several books.

Jane Grigson

Life and Times Jane Grigson lived from 13 March 1928 - 12 March 1990, dying just one day shy of her 62nd birthday. She was a middle-class, well-travelled food writer writing for such an audience. She would spend three months every year in France. She...

Jean Paré

Jean Paré was the one of the world's top selling cookbook authors, with 30 million copies of her books sold. Each of Jean's cookbooks is a single subject.

Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

Brillat-Savarin was not a chef, but he wrote the world's first ever book on gastronomy. He attempted to create an intellectual structure for the appreciation of food.

Jean-Étienne de Boré

Life and Times Jean-Étienne de Boré lived from 27 December 1740 to 2 February 1820. [1] He was the man who first commercially produced granulated sugar. He was not, as some also say, the first sugar refiner in Louisiana -- that was Valcour Aime. Jean-Étienne wa...

Jean-Pierre Clause

Life and Times Jean-Pierre Clause is known now as the creator of Pâté de Contades. Cynics point out that really what Clause really achieved was to take a peasant dish, dress it up, and make all the rich people swoon over it. But still, he does s...

Jennifer Paterson

Jennifer Paterson gained overnight fame in 1996 as one of the two principals on the TV series called "Two Fat Ladies.

John Cadbury

John Cadbury The start of the Cadbury dynasty The Cadbury family dynasty was started in 1824 by John Cadbury (12 August 1801 – 11 May 1889), and strengthened by his sons George and Richard. A devout Quaker, John saw cocoa and chocolate as healthy alt...

John Lawson Johnston

John Lawson Johnston Vanity Fair Magazine 1897 Life and Times John Lawson Johnston was the inventor of Bovril . He was born in Roslin, Scotland (of Da Vinci Code fame) on 28 September 1839. His parents were William Johnston and Jane McWilliam. John g...

Johnny Appleseed

Johnny Appleseed, iconic figure in American history and folklore, is largely associated with apples in the food world. Most of the strange things recounted about him genuinely seem to be true. Plus we found a few more by digging through old newspapers....

Joseph A. Campbell: Founder of Campbell's Soup

Joseph A. Campbell Life and Times Joseph A. Campbell (15 May 1817 - 27 March 1900) started the company that introduced condensed tomato soup in 1897. Today, the Campbell Soup Company (2007) is 50 to 60% owned by the Dorrance family. In the UK and...

Josephine Garis Cochrane

Josephine Garis Cochrane Life and Times Josephine Garis Cochrane invented the first workable dishwasher. An attempt had been made before her, by a man, but it didn't work and never got off the ground. She was born Josephine Garis in Ashtabula...

Julia Child

Julia Child was the person who more than anyone else brought French cooking to North American middle-class households. She was not the first person to run a cooking programme on television, but in many people's minds, she was the first one that counted...

Katherine Caldwell Bayley

Katherine Mary Caldwell Bayley was a famous home economist in the first half of the 1900s. She taught a National Cooking Course via newspaper in the mid-1930s, for which people could get a diploma. As her alter ego, Ann Adam, she also broadcast by radio...

La Maison Dorée

La Maison dorée: 20 Boulevard des Italiens, Paris Life and Times La Maison Dorée, located at 20, Boulevard des Italiens, was one of the most famous restaurants in Paris in the 1800s. It opened in 1840 in a building that was five storeys tall. P...

Laurie Colwin

Laurie Colwin (1944 - 1992) was an American food and fiction writer. Her cookbooks have been described as "memoirs with recipes".

Louis Eustache Ude

Louis Eustache Ude was one of the most famous French chefs in England in the early 1800s. He was also the author of two influential cookbooks.

Louis Fauchère

Louis Fauchère was a chef at Delmonico's restaurant in New York in the mid-1800s. He later established the venerable Hotel Fauchère in Milford, PA.

Lucien Olivier

Life and Times Lucien Olivier (1838–1883) was a chef trained in classic, French haute cuisine. It is unclear whether he was French or Belgian born; there is very little material available on his life. He spent his career in Moscow. With a business p...

Luther Burbank

Life and Times Luther Burbank was an American botanist and scientist, most remembered in the food world for the potato named after him. He was a self-promoter, but his hype about some of his plant creations didn't live up to reality when they...

Lydia Maria Francis Child

Lydia Maria Francis Child Lydia Maria Francis Child was a popular cookbook writer as well as the author of now-famous and much-loved Thanksgiving poem. Life and Times Lydia Maria Francis Child lived from 11 February 1802 to 20 October 1880. She...

Madhur Jaffrey: Television Cook and Food Writer

Madhur Jaffrey © From "Foolproof Indian Cookery" (2001) Life and Times Madhur Jaffrey is a TV food personality and cookbook writer who demystifies Indian cooking for English-speakers. On her programmes, she frequently dons the dress of the particular ...

Marcella Hazan

Marcella Hazan's goal was to teach Americans about authentic Italian food. Her ingredients were simple, but she was exacting when it came to technique. Despite her reputation for being a stickler when it came to cooking, two of her favourite foods were...

Margaret Costa

Life and Times Margaret Costa lived from 1917 to 1999. Though a relatively well-known British food personality, she wrote only one cookbook on her own (though she assisted with a few others.) She also wrote, though, for magazines such as the "Sunday...

Marguerite Patten: English Home Economist and Wartime Food Consultant

Marguerite Patten (1915 - 2015) was an English home economist and food writer whose career spanned many decades. She came to prominence in the 1940s during the Second World War, but continued working until 2011.

Maria Parloa

Maria Parloa lived from 25 September 1843 - 21 August 1909. Born in Massachusetts, she reputedly grew up as an orphan. Recent research, though, has cast doubt on that and speculates that she was in fact an Irish immigrant covering her origin owing to...

Marie-Antoine Carême

Marie-Antoine Carême was a French chef and food writer in the first half of the 1800s. He is now seen as the founder of "La Grande Cuisine Française", having defined everything from sauces to chefs uniforms.

Mars Family

The Mars Family story and business empire starts with Franklin Clarence Mars ( 24 September 1883 - 1934.) The company was later taken over by his son, Forrest Edward Mars. Franklin Clarence Mars Franklin was born in Newport, Minnesota. Owing to a case...

Mary Ellis Ames

Mary Ellis Ames Life and Times Mary Ellis Ames (born c. 1887; died 27 February 1968 [1]) was Pillsbury's answer to their competitor's fictional woman, Betty Crocker. A real woman, Ames was the Director of Pillsbury's Cooking Service. She...

Mary Randolph

Mary Randolph was the author of "The Virginia Housewife", the first regional cookbook in the United States, published in 1824. It is still being reprinted in facsimile. She was also the first person to be buried at what is now called Arlington National...

Maximilian Oskar Bircher-Benner

Life and Times One of the earliest promoters of raw-food diets was the Swiss doctor Maximilian Oskar Bircher-Benner [1] (born 22 August 1867 in Aarau, Switzerland; died 24 January 1939.) Max's father, Heinrich Bircher, had been a notary public in...

Milton S. Hershey

Milton S. Hershey c. 1905 Hershey Community Archives Life and Times Milton Snavely Hershey lived from 13 September 1857 to 13 October 1945. Famed now for both his candy products and his enlightened business practices, many of his ideas actually...

Mithaecus

Life and Times Mithaecus lived around 400 BC. He is probably the first cookery writer in history, or more fairly, that we know of, though we have only one recipe from him (quoted in "Athenaeus.") Mithaecus was a Greek living in the Greek colony of...

Nigel Slater: English food writer

Nigel Slater (1958 - ) is a food commentator. He lives in Highbury, near Islington in London, England. He has written for various magazines, hosted TV series on foods, and written many books about food.

Nigella Lawson

Life and Times Nigella Lawson is a celebrity TV cook and cookbook author. Not a professional cook by training, she emphasizes enjoyment rather than achievement in cooking. She is not a purist; she is not afraid to reach for frozen vegetables or powdered...

Paul Blangé

Paul Blangé was Executive Chef at Brennan's Restaurant in New Orleans, where his name became synonymous with good food and fine dining. He created Bananas Foster, Eggs Hussarde and Chicken Pontalba.

Peek Freans

Peek Freans was a famous Victorian brand of cookies and biscuits that were originally English but became a familiar sight in shops around the world.

Philip Harben

Philip Harben had one of the world's first televised cooking programmes, starting in 1946 on the BBC. Philip Harben's 'Cookery' Television Programme Historian Tony Currie of BBC Scotland, author of A Concise History of British Television, 1930-2000,...

Pierre Blot: possibly America's first celebrity chef

Pierre Blot, Handbook of Practical Cookery Life and Times For a brief period, Pierre Blot was perhaps America's first celebrity chef. He styled himself "Professor of Gastronomy." He wrote cookbooks and ran a cooking school. Ultimately, he may...

Pierre Pérignon

Life and Times Pierre Pérignon is the man better known today as Dom Pérignon of Champagne fame. Sadly, much of the "information" that is written about him in material for marketing is just that -- marketing myths. He was not the creator of the b...

Pillsbury Bake-Offs

Pillsbury Bake-Offs © General Mills Life and Times The Triple-Crown of American cooking contests consist of the National Chicken Cooking Contest, the National Beef Cook-Off, and the Pillsbury Bake-Off. The Pillsbury Bake-Off contest started ...

Platina

Platina was an Italian Renaissance writer now known in the food world for his cookbook written in Latin, "Concerning Honest Pleasure and Well-Being" ("De honesta voluptate et valetudine.") The word "honesta" in the title has long been translated as "honest",...

Poilâne Bakery

Poilâne is the name of a privately-owned family bakery company in Paris, France. It is one of the most well-known and prestigious bakeries in the world. It has been in continuous operation since 1932.

Raymond Calvel

Life and Times Raymond Calvel (1913 to 2005) was one of the 20th century French leading authorities on bread. Julia Child referred to Calvel as her first breadmaking teacher. Her husband Paul had been trying to make French bread to help Julia, but...

Richard C. Hellmann, creator of Hellmann's Mayonnaise

Life and Times Richard C. Hellmann (22 June 1876 to 2 February 1971) is the man who created Hellmann's Mayonnaise. He was born about 60 miles south of Berlin in Vetschau, Spreewald, Germany. His parents were Hermann and Emma Palm Hellmann. Hermann...

Rudolph Hass

Life and Times Rudolph Gustav Hass (5 June 1892 - 24 October 1952) was the discoverer of what we now know as the Hass variety of avocado. As of 2012, it was 95% of the avocado production in California. Hass was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1892....

Rufus Estes: Pullman Chef and Cookbook Author

Rufus Estes Life and Times Rufus Estes worked for the Pullman company, as a chef looking after the unimaginably luxurious private Pullman railway cars that travelled across America in the second half of the 1800s. He had worked his way up from...

Ruth Reichl

Life and Times Ruth Reichl (Reichl is pronounced "RYE-shul") is a food writer, editor and reviewer. She was born 16 January 1948 in Greenwich Village, Manhattan to Ernst and Miriam (née Brudno, born 1908) Reichl. Her parents were relatively well-off ...

Ruth Wakefield

Ruth Wakefield is now famous as the inventor of #chocolatechipcookies. It's a myth that it was by accident, though. A trained home economist and famous for running a prestigious New England inn, Wakefield knew what she was doing.

Sarah Tyson Rorer

Life and Times Sarah Tyson Rorer (1849 - 1937) was a nineteenth-century American prodigious writer of cookbooks. In addition, she was a cooking teacher, a speaker and a newspaper columnist. She wrote columns for Table Talk magazine (of which she...

Sylvester Graham

Sylvester Graham © Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Life and Times Sylvester Graham (5 July 1794 – 11 September 1851) was the inventor of Graham Flour and Graham Crackers. He was born in West Suffield, Connecticut, 1 of 17...

Taillevent: Medieval French Cook, Author of Le Viandier

Tomb of Taillevent and his two wives Notre Dame Priory, Hennebont, Brittany. Life and Times Taillevent wrote an historically-important French cookbook called "Le Viandier" towards the end of the Middle Ages. Suggested dates for the book include...

Tate & Lyle

Life and Times Tate & Lyle were a major international sugar company. They were the original makers of Lyle's Golden Syrup, and were owners of what was Redpath Sugar in Canada. In 2010, they sold their sugars business, which included all their...

The Tradescants

John Tradescant was an English horticulturist who introduced many new food plants to England. His curio collection formed the basis of what is now known as the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

Thomas Laxton: Fruit and Vegetable Breeder

Thomas Laxton Life and Times Thomas Laxton was a plant breeder who introduced many new varieties of strawberries, and worked with Charles Darwin in experiments on peas. The nursery that he founded, carried on by his descendants for many generations,...

Timeline of Television Cooking Show Personalities

This is a timeline showing what television cooking stars appeared when, and where. The first televised cooking shows began in England in 1936 on the BBC.

Two Fat Ladies

Two Fat Ladies was a television cooking programme that ran on BBC2 from 1996 to 1999 inclusive. The co-stars were Clarissa Dickson-Wright and Jennifer Paterson.

Walter Tennyson Swingle

Walter Tennyson Swingle, 1941. Taken by Robert Taylor. Life and Times Dr Walter Tennyson Swingle (1871 -- 1952) was an agricultural botanist who worked for the United States Department of Agriculture Citrus Breeding Programme. He was involved...

White Castle

Life and Times White Castle is an American fast-food hamburger chain that started in 1916. Its headquarters are in Columbus, Ohio. In America, it had around 390 stores as of 2005, most of which were in the mid-west, and all of which were still owned...

William Cobbett: Social Reformer and Home Brewing Advocate

William Cobbett circa 1831 Life and Times William Cobbett lived from 9 March 1763 -- 18 June 1835. He was a social reformer at the start of the Industrial Revolution; he was also a farmer and a pamphleteer (nowadays, we would call him an "activist"),...