Dione Lucas

Dione Lucas (10 October 1909 – 18 December 1971)[1] (pronounced DEE-OH-NEE) was an English chef,[2] and the first female graduate of Le Cordon Bleu.

Life

Lucas was fundamental in establishing an extension of the famous Paris culinary school in London in the 1930s. In 1931 she and Rosemary Hume set up a cookery school in London as they had both trained in Paris. They had a flat in Chelsea and they would reputedly serve their students' creations to passing trade at chairs and tables on the pavement. Lucas is thought to have helped Hume create her first cookery book, as Hume's spelling was known to be poor.[3]

Lucas worked as a hotel chef in Hamburg before World War II and later claimed that Adolf Hitler often dined there and had a taste for stuffed squab.[4] She later opened a Cordon Bleu restaurant and a cooking school in New York. She also ran the Egg Basket restaurant by Bloomingdale's in New York. One of the earliest television cook-show hosts, Lucas's To The Queen's Taste was broadcast on CBS in 1948-1949 from the restaurant.[5] She had another show in the 1950s.

Dione Lucas was the first woman featured in a cooking show on television on WPIX-11 in New York.[6] In one of her New York restaurants, The Gingerman, Lucas helped to introduce the omelette to the American palate. She can be seen as a predecessor and influence to Julia Child. Dione Lucas authored several cookbooks on French cuisine.

Quotes
  • "The preparation of good food is merely another expression of art, one of the joys of civilized living."
  • "I do not mean to spoil your appetite for stuffed squab, but you might be interested to know that it was a great favorite with Mr. Hitler, who dined at the hotel often. Let us not hold that against a fine recipe though."

Works

Books
  • Au Petit Cordon Bleu: an array of recipes from the ‘École du Petit cordon bleu (1936, with Rosemary Hume) (29 Sloane Street, London)
  • The Cordon Bleu Cook Book (1947)
  • The Dione Lucas Meat and Poultry Cook Book (1955, with Anne Roe Robbins) 324 pages. Illustrated.
  • Good Cooking. (1960) 64 pages.Illustrated. (Australian Consolidated Press, Sydney)
  • Gourmet Cooking School Cookbook (1964) (Bernard Geis Associates)
  • The Dione Lucas Book of French Cooking (1973 with Marion Gorman)
  • The Dione Lucas Book of Natural French Cooking (1977, with Marion & Felipe Alba)
  • Gourmet Cooking School Cookbook (1982 with Darlene Geis)

Television
  • To The Queen's Taste (December 1947 - 1953)
  • The Dione Lucas Cooking Show (1953-1956)
  • Dione Lucas’s Gourmet Club (1958-1960)

References
  1. Good cooking / by Dione Lucas - National Library of Australia
  2. Cooking for the Camera Time Monday, May. 30, 1955
  3. Sue Shephard (30 November 2010). The Surprising Life of Constance Spry. Pan Macmillan. pp. 94–96. ISBN 978-0-330-53610-3.
  4. Dione Lucas (1964). The Gourmet Cooking School Cookbook. p. 89.
  5. Collins, Kathleen (2012). "A Kitchen of One's Own: The Paradox of Dione Lucas". Camera Obscura: Feminism, Culture, and Media Studies. 27 (2): 1–23. doi:10.1215/02705346-1597195.
  6. Dione Lucas - Cook Books


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