(14″x23″ framed. oil pencils, watercolor, pastel pencils)
For those who don’t know?…..Elizabeth David (after her early work, which consisted primarily of scandalizing her upper-class, English family) became, after WWII, England’s most prominent, accomplished, and genuinely experienced food-writer.
For better or worse (and I think for the better), she ran into the same problems that MFK Fisher encountered…..how do you extol the delights and virtues of olive oil (for example) to early-1950’s Americans and British folks (the British were, until the late 50’s still on food-rations, and Americans couldn’t find olive oil anywhere except in the pharmacy stores)???
Elizabeth David was, nonetheless, a good egg (as my friend, Newby Day would approvingly say). David epitomized “Keep Your Spirits Up, and Carry On!” (except when she didn’t).
Her great book is “French Provincial Cooking” (initially published in 1960). I find it invaluable in my own cooking. OH?…It doesn’t have ANY pictures, which seems to distress a lot of folks these days, but I find that sort of comforting. If nothing else, the book doesn’t seem to be presenting itself as competition to my own work.