It is incredible to think that one of the 20th century’s most celebrated cookery writers spent such a formative moment in Antibes and that – unwittingly – I am following in her footsteps every day when I walk through the market.
Later in life British cookery writer Elizabeth David revealed that the marché provençal had been key in the development of her love of seasonal produce. She likely returned regularly to Antibes in her imagination in 1947, the coldest winter on record. Finding herself holed up in a hotel in Ross-on-Wye, with dreadful food (rationing was still in place), David used her imagination to return to the Mediterranean, and wrote out rich recipes from memory.
Remarkably this “mental voyage” produced the words, work and income that became A Book of Mediterranean Food, published in 1950, transforming David’s life from failed actress and wife, into that of one of Britain’s most celebrated cookery writers.
Her discovery of France started in Paris, aged 17
David’s long relationship with France began when she attended the Cours de Civilisation at the Sorbonne in 1931. As a 17-year-old she was more interested in exploring Paris than with studying, but this grounding in French and in the life of the haute bourgeoisie served her well in later life. At the time she wrote funny letters home about her host family’s obsession with food but clearly something rubbed off. When she returned to London and was living in a flat with friends – with for the first time no convenient family cook – David discovered that she loved cooking. Spending her 21st birthday money on a refrigerator, she often racked up large bills at Selfridges Food Hall where she had a charge account, which her mother begrudgingly cleared.
Early life
David had the clipped vowels, groomed poise and the natural confidence that revealed her smart upbringing, with a honking laugh. She was trying to find her own way, first as an actress, then stage manager and house model. While her acting career was short-lived, it did introduce her to married actor, Charles Gibson Cowan, with whom she sailed for France in 1939.
Journey to France
In the Voyage of Evelyn Hope, Cowan’s account of their World War Two adventure, the couple's plans to escape Britain are detailed like a grown-up version of Swallows and Amazons. This folie à deux was fuelled by meticulous planning and Cowan and David envisaged a dream boat to sail away from the reality of dreary London into the bright lights of the Mediterranean.
They bought an old yawl called the Evelyn Hope and set about refitting it in 1938. Departing for Europe in spring 1939. The war ultimately took this adventure from a pleasure cruise into something much more character forming.
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The coastline off Antibes, where David and Cowan dockedStockbym/Shutterstock
Although frightened by the bombs in Marseille, remarkably David and Cowan did not return home; instead they tacked along the coast finally obtaining permission to put down anchor in the old port at Antibes. Here they remained until spring 1940. From the old port David must have viewed the snow-capped mountains and glorious daily winter sunsets before the black- out was enforced.
Antibes
She will have wandered through the marché provençal looking to see what she might cook for dinner. In a time before supermarkets the market will have been busier than today. The sight and sound of the market cannot have changed that much, giving the same kaleidoscopic opportunity to witness the smells, sights and colours of the food, observe characters and engage with the locals. As a regular visitor, David would soon be recognised as an English lady who spoke French and behaved like a Parisian but laughed like an English school girl.
It was in Antibes that David met her mentor, the writer Norman Douglas, then in his 70s, who became a mentor in food and writing, and about whom she wrote extensively in later life. The pair would often eat lunch in local cheap restaurants, walking and talking in the hills around Vence in the Nice backcountry.
David and Cowan left France for Italy in May, 1941 where they were ultimately arrested on suspicion of spying. Their boat was seized and all written records of David’s time in Antibes were lost. The couple travelled through Italy, Yugoslavia, Greece and Egypt, where they ended the relationship, but Cowan was known to cook David’s coq au vin recipe well after they parted.
Elizabeth David’s Coq au Vin
1.3kg (3lb) chicken, plus the giblets
Salt and pepper
Lemon juice
85g-115g (3oz-4oz) butter, plus extra for the onions and mushrooms
A small glass of brandy
A whole bottle of good red wine – Mâcon, Beaujolais or Châteauneuf du Pape, plus extra for the onions
20 small (baby) onions, peeled
Sugar
225g (8oz) mushrooms
20g (¾oz) flour (optional)
Season the bird inside and out with salt, pepper and lemon juice; into a deep, heavy pan put the butter and brown the chicken all over in it; pour over a small glass of brandy and set alight; when the flames have died down, pour in a whole bottle of good red wine.
Add the giblets of the bird, cover the pan and simmer slowly either on top of the stove or in a low oven for about 1½ hours.
In the meantime, prepare the little onions, browned in butter and glazed with a little sugar and red wine, and the mushrooms, sautéed in butter. A few minutes before the chicken is ready, take out the giblets and add the onions and mushrooms. Remove the chicken to a hot dish and carve it for serving.
The sauce should by this time be sufficiently reduced to need no thickening, but if it is not, add 30g (1oz) butter worked with the flour, put the pan on to a high flame and let the sauce bubble until it is thick enough. Pour it over the pieces of chicken and arrange the mushrooms and the onions on the top.
