Delicious UK – (10)October 2019

1978

The first

series of Delia

Smith’s Cookery

Course aired

on the BBC.

It can still

be viewed on

BBC iPlayer

1978

Following

the success

of the show,

Delia Smith’s

Cookery

Course:

Part One

came out

1979

A second

TV series

followed, with

a second book

• Delia Smith’s
  Cookery
  Course:
  Part Two

1981

Delia Smith’s

Cookery

Course:

Part Three was

published. The

books (and an

omnibus) have

sold 6m copies

1985

OneisFun!

Delia’snew

TVseriesand

bestselling

bookfocused

on thejoys

of cooking

forone

WHATDELIAMEANSTO...

TOMKERRIDGE

“Deliaisa hero.Hercookbooks

werethefirstonesI everread

andtheyweremymum’sgo-to

cookingbibles– theywere

coveredingrease,flourandlittlescribbles.Every

singlerecipeworkedcorrectly.HerTVstyleis

exceptional:everythingfilmedprettymuchinone

take,simplyexplainedandcookedperfectly.Delia

showedushowa littlebitofeffortcangoa long

waytocreatinggreatfood.Shewasa pioneer.”

FAVOURITEDELIARECIPE“I’mforeverthankfulfor

herchouxpastryrecipe.”

newspaper colour supplements,whichwerea bit

esoteric, or women’s magazinesdoingthingslike

chocolate cornflake cakesorrecipeswithbaked

beans. I once asked a customerintherestaurant,

who was a historian, whyit wasthatinmostof

the restaurants everythingwasFrench.Evenin

expensive cookery schoolsit wasthesame...Whatever

happened to English cooking?

He explained an intriguingseriesofevents.Afterthe

Enclosures and during theIndustrialRevolution,

country people lost theirlandandhadtoworkin

factories. Two World Warsfollowed,therewasfood

rationing and not much foodtocookwith,andthe

handing down of cookingskillsfrommothertodaughter

was interrupted.

It was different in France,heexplained.Aftertheir

industrial revolution, thepeoplewentbacktotheland.

And, he pointed out, mostgoodcookingoriginatesfrom

a country in which produceisplentifulandevena small

amount of land can be usedtorearpoultry,keepa pig

and grow produce. Thus,traditionalFrenchfood,and

the country’s amazing wines,putthemaheadofmost

other cuisines around theworld.

Yet (and this was the crucialbit)earlierinthe18th

century British people wereeatingbetterthanthose

in most other countries inEurope.Thecartoonsof

the time depicted groaningtablesandfatjollypeople

enjoying fine food and wines.I wascaptivatedbyall

this, and it fired my determinationtolearnmore.

Meanwhile, in order toearna living,I answeredan→

“All I ever reallywantedwasto

convince peoplenottobeafraid

to cook – thattheycoulddo

anythingI coulddo”

CREATING

A STIR

Delia (above)

displaying her

straightforward

approach in 1975

PHOTOGRAPHS: THEO WARGO, NICK BEARDSHAW, GETTY IMAGES

1990

Delia took

the stress

out of festive

cooking with

Delia Smith’s

Christmas,

a TV series

and book

deliciousmagazine.co.uk 67

exclusive.