Alan Davidson (food writer) facts for kids
Alan Eaton Davidson (born March 30, 1924 – died December 2, 2003) was a British diplomat and writer. He is best known for his amazing work writing and editing books about food and cooking.
After finishing his studies at Oxford University in 1948, Alan Davidson joined the British diplomatic service. This meant he worked for the British government in other countries. He became an ambassador to Laos from 1973 to 1975. He retired early to focus on writing about food. Famous food writer Elizabeth David encouraged him. He published many books, but his most important work was The Oxford Companion to Food. This huge book took twenty years to write and was loved by people all over the world when it came out in 1999.
Contents
Life and Career
Early Life and Education
Alan Davidson was born in Derry, Northern Ireland, in 1924. He grew up in Leeds, England. His education was paused because of the Second World War. During the war, he joined the Royal Navy. He served in different parts of the world, like the Mediterranean and the Pacific.
After the war, in 1946, he went back to Oxford University. He studied classical subjects and graduated with excellent results in 1948.
Working as a Diplomat
After university, Davidson joined the British Foreign Office. This is the part of the government that handles relationships with other countries. Between 1948 and 1973, he worked in many different places. These included Washington, The Hague, Cairo, and Tunis. He also led two departments in London. He worked with NATO in Brussels.
In 1951, he married Jane Macatee. They had three daughters.
Davidson finished his diplomatic career as the British ambassador to Laos. An ambassador is a country's main representative in another country. A colleague said that Laos was a very important "listening post" during the Cold War. Alan was good at understanding what was happening there. Davidson retired from this job in 1975 when he was 51 years old.
Becoming a Food Writer
While living in Tunis, Davidson's wife, Jane, wanted a cookbook about local fish. She didn't know what the fish were called or how to cook them. Alan couldn't find one, so he decided to write it himself! This first book was called Seafish of Tunisia. It was a small book published in 1963.
A famous British food writer, Elizabeth David, liked his book. She introduced him to her editor. This led to Penguin Books publishing his book Mediterranean Seafood in 1972. This book was special because it combined scientific names of fish with their local names. It also had pictures and recipes. It quickly became a "classic" book.
Davidson wrote more books like this. He got a lot of information from his friends in the diplomatic service. These books included Fish and Fish Dishes of Laos (1975) and North Atlantic Seafood (1979).
In 1978, Davidson started working on his most important book, The Oxford Companion to Food. This was a huge project. His home became a research center filled with cookbooks and reference books. He and his family could read many languages to help with the research.
In 1979, Davidson and his wife started a publishing company called Prospect Books. They reprinted old and rare cookbooks. They also started a magazine called Petits Propos Culinaires. This was the first serious magazine about food history. That same year, Davidson helped start an annual event called the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery. This meeting brings together people interested in food history.
The Oxford Companion to Food took Davidson twenty years to finish. It was over a million words long! Many writers helped, but Davidson wrote most of it. Elizabeth David, another famous food writer, let him use her large library. When the book was published in 1999, it was called "the best food reference work ever" by The New Statesman.
Alan Davidson passed away on December 2, 2003, at the age of 79. He was survived by his wife and three daughters.
Recognition
Davidson received an award called the Order of St Michael and St George when he retired. However, he later regretted accepting it.
In 2003, he received the Erasmus Prize from Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. This award recognized his work in starting the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery and writing The Oxford Companion to Food.
In 2010, a TV show called The Man Who Ate Everything was broadcast on BBC Four. It was a documentary about Alan Davidson's life.
Images for kids
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Alan Davidson (Erasmus Prize 2003)
