Gillian Riley is an English

food writer Food writing is a genre of writing that focuses on food and includes works by food critics, food journalists, chefs and food historians. Definition Food writers regard food as a substance and a cultural phenomenon. John T. Edge, an American food ...

Biography

She was born 1933 and brought up in

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

, read History at

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. After obtaining a diploma in education, she went to live in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

where she worked as a designer in print and publishing, combining this with part-time teaching. Study trips to Italy in pursuit of lettering and inscriptions fuelled a passion for the history of Italian gastronomy which gradually took over her life. Her illustrated translation of Giacomo Castelvetro's ''The Fruit, Herbs & Vegetables of Italy'' was published by Viking Penguin in 1989, and in paperback, text only, by Prospect Books in 2012. Then followed three titles in the Painters & Food series for Pomegranate Books: Renaissance Recipes, ''Impressionist Picnics'', and ''The Dutch Table''. A 'Feast for the Eyes'', the National Gallery Cookbook, involved the lateral thinking needed to use art to illuminate the story of food, and food to shed light on hitherto ignored aspects of painting. ''Food in Art'', Reaktion Books 2015, covers earliest times to the Renaissance. ''The Oxford Companion to Italian Food'', OUP 2007 describes contemporary Italian food in its historic background. She is currently working on a biography of Ulisse Aldrovandi, the sixteenth century naturalist.

Works

; Books * * * * ; As translator * (translator) ; Selected articles * 2016 :
How art can help food historians to know their onions
at ''Art UK'' (14 October 2016) * 2018 :
Wild courses: Gillian Riley explores the cultural traditions of preparing and eating game
in ''Hackney Citizen'' (7 August 2018) * 2018 :
Living Dangerously with Pomegranates
in ''Hackney Citizen'' (8 May 2019) * 2020 :
Some like it hot
in ''Hackney Citizen'' (14 December 2018) * 2019 :
From fast to feast
in ''Hackney Citizen'' (8 May 2019) * 2020 :
Some like it hot
in ''Hackney Citizen'' (4 September 2020)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Riley, Gillian English translators English historians English food writers English women non-fiction writers Living people Year of birth missing (living people)