Elizabeth David (1913–1992) was a British cookery writer.

In the mid-20th century she helped revitalise

home cookery in her native country and beyond with articles and books about European cuisines and
traditional British dishes. Born to an upper-class family, she studied art in Paris and travelled to Greece,
where she was nearly trapped by the German invasion in 1941. Returning to England in 1946, she was
dismayed by the contrast between the bad food served in Britain and the simple foods she had enjoyed
in France, Greece and Egypt. She wrote magazine articles about Mediterranean cooking, and in 1950
published A Book of Mediterranean Food. Her recipes called for ingredients such as aubergines, basil,
figs, garlic, olive oil and saffron, which at the time were scarcely available in Britain. By the 1960s David
was a major influence on domestic and professional British cooking. Between 1950 and 1984 she
published eight books; after her death a further four were published. (Full article...)