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The Adventurous Chef: Alexis Soyer
By Ann Arnold
Frances Foster Books / Farrar, Straus & Giroux
2002
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A New York Public Library 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing Selection |
Ann Arnold's absolutely charming illustrations and story bring to life the history of this chef who cooked with great talent and compassion.
-Alice Waters, Chez Panisse
Alexis Soyer, a chef with a social conscience, combined good cooking with good works. In 1837, when he was just twenty-five years old, he accepted the position of head chef at the exclusive Reform Club in London on the condition that he be allowed to participate in the design of the kitchen. The result was a showplace, filled with Soyer's clever inventions and innovations. It became the most talked about and visited kitchen in all of Europe, and Soyer quickly established himself as a star. For all his flamboyance, Soyer was practical and large-hearted, cooking for the starving populace as well as the aristocracy. During the Irish potato famine, Soyer, believing that the poor also deserved good food, created a model soup kitchen in Dublin where a variety of flavorful soups were served. Later, during the Crimean War, Soyer worked with Florence Nightingale in the hospital and field kitchens of the British Army, where he reformed the cooking methods of the military.
Filled with biographical detail and lively illustrations, Ann Arnold's first picture book as both author and illustrator tells the story of a remarkable man who was determined to revolutionize the culinary world and who remains one of the greatest cooks of the nineteenth century.
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