Elizabeth David learned to appreciate good food as a student in Paris, and developed her taste during the war years in Greece and Egypt. Back in England she started writing down memories of Mediterranean life and food, as an antidote to the prevailing ration-bound apathy. MEDITERRANEAN FOOD was published in 1950: together with her many magazine articles and subsequent books on French and Italian cuisines, it altered the outlook of English cooks for ever. This anthology, from the nine books written before her death in 1992, contains many pieces to which her friends, including chefs and writers she influenced, have added their particular memories.