
Victory in the Kitchen
The Life of Churchill's Cook
Annie Gray(Author)
Profile Books Ltd (Publisher)
Published on 6. February 2020
Book
Hardback
400 pages
978-1-78816-044-5 (ISBN)
Description
'Zingy, fresh, and unexpected: Annie Gray, the queen of food historians, finds her perfect subject. A book to devour.' - Lucy Worsley
This is the story of a woman who was not a royal, not rich, not famous, simply someone who worked hard and enjoyed her life. Beginning in 1882, she ranged through life in the country, life in the town, life in her own house, and in that of others. She travelled, married, had children and a highly successful career. For while Georgina Landemare saw herself as ordinary, her accomplishments, and the life she lived, were anything but. She started her career as a nursemaid, and ended it cooking for one of the best-known figures in British history, Winston Churchill, a man to whom food was central, not only as a pleasure by itself, but as a diplomatic tool in a time when the world was embroiled in a worldwide war.
Victory in the Kitchen is a culinary biography: a life lived through food, ranging from rural Berkshire to wartime London, via Belle Epoque Paris and prohibition-era New York. Through one eager eater, and one skilled cook, Annie Gray contextualises twentieth century food through two figures who were both intimately involved with it. Recipes include Georgina's German Kougelhof, Curried Brains, macaroons, Boodles Orange, Mousse de Maple and 'Chocolat Cake Good'.
This is the story of a woman who was not a royal, not rich, not famous, simply someone who worked hard and enjoyed her life. Beginning in 1882, she ranged through life in the country, life in the town, life in her own house, and in that of others. She travelled, married, had children and a highly successful career. For while Georgina Landemare saw herself as ordinary, her accomplishments, and the life she lived, were anything but. She started her career as a nursemaid, and ended it cooking for one of the best-known figures in British history, Winston Churchill, a man to whom food was central, not only as a pleasure by itself, but as a diplomatic tool in a time when the world was embroiled in a worldwide war.
Victory in the Kitchen is a culinary biography: a life lived through food, ranging from rural Berkshire to wartime London, via Belle Epoque Paris and prohibition-era New York. Through one eager eater, and one skilled cook, Annie Gray contextualises twentieth century food through two figures who were both intimately involved with it. Recipes include Georgina's German Kougelhof, Curried Brains, macaroons, Boodles Orange, Mousse de Maple and 'Chocolat Cake Good'.
Reviews / Votes
Popular history at its very best * Daily Mail * Gray is an inventive researcher ... she likes to get close up to the everyday past * Spectator * Engaging ... appeals to three national obsessions: the preparation and presentation of food; the lost world of great households, above and below stairs; and the private life of a national hero, Churchill * The Times * Victory in the Kitchen ... recreates a corner of early 20th-century domestic life * Spectator * Deliciously entertaining * Daily Mail * Full of mouthwatering detail, and punctuated with Georgina's delicious recipes, this is below-stairs history at its most fascinating. * Daily Mail * Praise for Annie Gray's * The Greedy Queen * Zingy, fresh, and unexpected: Annie Gray, the queen of food historians, finds her perfect subject. A book to devour -- Lucy Worsley Had me at the first sentence -- Nigel Slater Annie Gray is a brilliant writer and scholar who brings a glorious combination of enthusiasm and greed to every subject she tackles. In the field of food history she leads the pack -- Jay Rayner Gray writes with great authority, verve and confidence * The Times * Wonderfully researched and entertaining * Spectator *More details
Edition
Main
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Product notice
Trade binding
Illustrations
8 page black and white plate section
Dimensions
Height: 222 mm
Width: 144 mm
Thickness: 37 mm
Weight
529 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78816-044-5 (9781788160445)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
02/2020
Profile Books Ltd
€13.49
Available for download
Person
Annie Gray is an historian, cook, broadcaster and writer specialising in the history of food and dining in Britain from around 1600 to the present day. She has presented TV history documentaries including Victorian Bakers and The Sweetmakers, and appears on BBC Radio 4's The Kitchen Cabinet. She lives in East Anglia.