18/05/2016
Elizabeth David celebrated with a blue plaque
Elizabeth David becomes the first food writer to be honoured with a blue plaque at her home in Chelsea.
Elizabeth David changed Britain's tastes forever, and is largely credited with introducing Mediterranean food to the UK. Today she is being honoured with a blue plaque at her home in Chelsea where she lived for 45 years, as a part of the 150th anniversary of the London Blue Plaque scheme.
Jill Norman, Elizabeth's editor at Penguin books, said: "It is a very well deserved plaque, putting Elizabeth in place in terms of the quality of her writing, as well as what she changed in British food".
David championed the use of new and exotic ingredients such as aubergines, olives and saffron, and her books captured the imagination of cooks across the country, selling over a million copies worldwide.
Rosemary Hill, a member of the English Heritage Blue Plaques Panel, said: "Elizabeth David was taken seriously in a way that no English food writer had been before. She turned the traditional image of Mrs Beeton into a much more glamorous, cosmopolitan idea of what it meant to cook."
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Blue Plaques
Over 900 blue plaques across London honour notable men and women. Find out more about the people behind the plaques or find a blue plaque near you.
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Propose a blue plaque
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