International Women's Day - famous female cooks

March 8 is International Women's Day - the perfect excuse to look at how females have shaped our palates over the years.

Without groundbreaking women writers, we Brits wouldn't be drizzling olive oil over our salads, attempting soufflés for dinner, or cooking perfect boiled eggs. To celebrate the 101st International Women’s Day, we go back in time to appreciate those females who, like us, found joy in food. Starting with a 16th century German lady... 

A Delicious New Cookbook

1598: Anna Weckerin of Germany becomes the first woman to publish a cookery book – ‘A Delicious New Cookbook’. For those of you who speak a little German, you can give it a read here. Wunderbar!

The 1950s Trio

1950: Elizabeth David publishes 'A Book of Mediterranean Food' while Britain is still in the grip of rationing. We have her to thank for introducing olive oil, garlic, aubergines, basil and other mystical ingredients into our kitchens. 

Elizabeth David's moules marinière

Elizabeth David's chocolate mousse

1954: Anyone heard of Dorothy Hartley? Alas Elizabeth David’s fame far outshone Hartley’s, who’s ‘Food in England’ (riddled with her own illustrations) has since been described by Delia Smith as “a classic book without a worthy successor”.

1954: A surprisingly rude, croaky-voiced and scary-eyebrowed Fanny Craddock has her nose straightened in preparation for her TV debut on the BBC’s 'Kitchen Magic' the following year. She goes on to publish more than 100 cookery books. 

The French Chef

1961: Julia Child and the two female friends she ran a Parisian cookery school with publish the 734-page epic, 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking'. America loves it, and Julia gets her very own cookery show, 'The French Chef', two years later.

Delia United

1996: Delia Smith, the UK’s most popular cookery book author, ‘rescues’ her favourite footie team, Norwich FC, by becoming its majority shareholder. Today she is valued at over £23 million – not bad, considering a damning 1950s school report, which predicted a career as a secretary ‘if she worked hard’. 

A baking supermodel

2011: Lorraine Pascale becomes the first former 90s supermodel to forge a career out of cake. Her Baking made Easy series on the BBC pulled in over 2 million viewers an episode. She’s also got a lovely little bakery, Ella’s Bakehouse, in Covent Garden. 

Lorraine Pascale's mojito Genoise

Lorraine Pascale's toad in the hole

Lorraine Pascale's whoopie cakes

Our favourite all-female recipes 

Nicola Graimes’ doughnuts

These light and fluffy doughnuts are infused with orange zest and are best eaten warm, soon after cooking – perfect dunked into the rich chocolate sauce.

Allegra McEvedy’s 
savoury rice

This Malawian dish makes for a yummy supper. Mtedza is the Malawian word for groundnuts, which is what they call peanuts.

Sophie Wright’s camembert salad

"This dish is perfect for a lunch time meal or light dinner.  It’s packed full of spicy flavours that all complement each other down to a T. Plus it takes next to no time to prepare."

Jassy Davis’ sticky toffee pudding

A good STP is the mark of any pub or restaurant, however you can also make it at home. You might also like to read about its complicated history.

Maria Elia’s cardamom glazed ham

Culinary trailblazers are cooking outside the lines by discovering, reinventing and even playing with food.

This is a classic lovefood article

Have you been inspired by one of our favourite female cooks? And where are their modern counterparts on the TV today? Talk to us in the comments box below...

Image of Anna Weckerin's A Delicious New Cookbook courtesy of Allan Warren.