Sheila Lukins (November 18, 1942 – August 30, 2009), was an American cook and

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 ...

. She was most famous as the co-author, with

Julee Rosso Julee Rosso is an American cook and food writer. In 1977 she and Sheila Lukins opened and ran a gourmet food shop in New York City called The Silver Palate. In the 1980s they wrote ''The Silver Palate Cookbook'', ''The Silver Palate Good Times Coo ...

, of ''The Silver Palate'' series of cookbooks, and ''The New Basics Cookbook'', a very popular set of food guides which introduced many Americans to Mediterranean and Eastern European cooking techniques and ingredients and popularized a richer and very boldly seasoned style of cooking to Americans in sharp contrast to the health-food movements of the 1970s. Together, their books sold more than seven million copies. She was also the co-founder and owner of the popular Silver Palate gourmet shop in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and, for 23 years, the food editor and columnist for ''

Parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, float (parade), floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually ce ...

'', a position previously held by

Julia Child Julia Carolyn Child (née McWilliams; August 15, 1912 – August 13, 2004) was an American cooking teacher, author, and television personality. She is recognized for bringing French cuisine to the American public with her debut cookbook, '' ...

Early life and education

Born Sheila Gail Block in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

in 1942, she grew up in Norwalk and

Westport, Connecticut Westport is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, along the Long Island Sound within Connecticut's Gold Coast. It is northeast of New York City. The town had a population of 27,141 according to the 2020 U.S. Census. History ...

. She studied art at the

Tyler School of Art The Tyler School of Art and Architecture is based at Temple University, a large, urban, public research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Tyler currently enrolls about 1,350 undergraduate students and about 200 graduate students in a wid ...

, the

School of Visual Arts The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design. History This school was started by ...

and

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

, where she earned a bachelor's degree with honor in Art Education. After graduation she attended

Le Cordon Bleu Le Cordon Bleu (French for " The Blue Ribbon") is an international network of hospitality and culinary schools teaching French ''haute cuisine''. Its educational focuses are hospitality management, culinary arts, and gastronomy. The instituti ...

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 ...

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, while working in graphic design. Her culinary education continued in France, where she worked alongside

Michelin Michelin (; ; full name: ) is a French multinational tyre manufacturing company based in Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes ''région'' of France. It is the second largest tyre manufacturer in the world behind Bridgestone and la ...

-starred chefs in

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

Career

When she and her husband returned to New York City, she opened a catering business called The Other Woman and specialized in bold Mediterranean and Eastern European flavors, which at the time were unfamiliar to many Americans. She was hired by

for a catering job. In 1977 she and Rosso opened and ran a gourmet food shop in

called The Silver Palate at the corner of Columbus Avenue and 73rd Street. The shop, along with other similar shops of the era, such as Dean & DeLuca, Oakville Grocery, and Jamail's, is credited with creating and popularizing the field of upscale prepared foods sometimes called "carryout cuisine". In the 1980s she and Rosso wrote, with Michael McLaughlin, ''The Silver Palate Cookbook'', which broke cookbook records by selling 250,000 copies in its first year and went on to sell as of 2009 2.5-million copies, followed by ''The Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook'', and others. Lukins drew the illustrations for all the Silver Palate cookbooks and her solo cookbooks. The original cookbook contained Lukins' signature recipe,

Chicken Marbella The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...

, and according to ''Parade'' at the time of Lukins' death was among the top ten bestselling cookbooks of all time. The Silver Palate Cookbooks are considered to have influenced the 1980s trend of middle-class Americans treating cooking as a hobby and are widely credited with changing how Americans cooked. In 1986, she and Rosso replaced

to share the position of food editor for ''

''; after 1991 Lukins held the position solo until 1999. After 11 years working together, Rosso and Lukins split up in early 1990s in a widely reported feud. The Silver Palate shop, which had been sold to new owners in 1988, closed its doors in 1993, although a brand of sauces and condiments bearing its name continues to be sold. During this period Lukins published her own successful series of books including ''Sheila Lukins' All Round the World Cookbook'' and ''Celebrate!'' In 2007 she reunited with Rosso to publish a new 25th-anniversary edition of ''The Silver Palate Cookbook''. Combined, Lukins' cookbooks and those she wrote with Rosso had sold 7 million copies by 2009.

Recognition

Her 1986 cookbook with Rosso, ''The Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook'', won a James Beard Award. In 1992 their ''

The Silver Palate Cookbook ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

'' was named to the Cookbook Hall of Fame. In 1992 Lukins was inducted into Who's Who of Food & Beverage in America and in 1995 was named "an American food legend" by the Beard Foundation. In 1998 Lukins' ''U.S.A. Cookbook'' was nominated for a Beard Award.

Personal life

In December 1991, she suffered a

cerebral hemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. It is one kind of bleed ...

due to a 'berry' aneurysm which paralyzed most of her left side and nearly took her life. Some after-effects lasted for the rest of her life, but she was able to recover sufficiently to resume her position at ''Parade'' and to continue to write books."Fight For Your Own Life", ''Parade'', August 16, 1992, pp 4-5. She was married for many years to Richard Lukins, a security systems expert, with whom she had two daughters, Annabel and Molly. After the sale of the shop Lukins lived and worked from her apartment at

The Dakota The Dakota, also known as the Dakota Apartments, is a Housing cooperative, cooperative apartment building at 1 West 72nd Street (Manhattan), 72nd Street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The Dakota was construc ...

. In June 2009, at age 66, she was diagnosed with

brain cancer A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and secondar ...

. She died on August 30, 2009, at her home in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, surrounded by her children.Moskin, Julia
"Sheila Lukins, 66, Dies; Awakened Taste Buds"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', August 30, 2009. Accessed August 31, 2009.

Books

with Julee Rosso

*''The Silver Palate Cookbook'', 1982 (Named to the Cookbook Hall of Fame in 1992) *''The Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook'', 1984 (Winner of the

James Beard James Andrews Beard (May 5, 1903 – January 23, 1985) was an American chef, cookbook author, teacher and television personality. He pioneered television cooking shows, taught at The James Beard Cooking School in New York City and Seaside, ...

award in the "Entertaining" category in 1986) *''The New Basics Cookbook'', 1989 *''Silver Palate Desserts'', 1995

By Sheila Lukins

*''Sheila Lukins' All Round the World Cookbook'', 1994 *''USA Cookbook'', 1997 *''Celebrate!'', 2003 *''Ten: all the foods we love and ten perfect recipes for each'', 2008

References

External links

Sheila Lukins biography on StarChefs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lukins, Sheila 1942 births 2009 deaths American chefs American food writers Deaths from brain cancer in the United States Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development alumni People from Manhattan Writers from Norwalk, Connecticut Writers from Philadelphia People from Westport, Connecticut School of Visual Arts alumni Women cookbook writers James Beard Foundation Award winners Alumni of Le Cordon Bleu Chefs from New York City