Richard Olney (April 12, 1927 – August 3, 1999) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ...

cook Cook or The Cook may refer to: Food preparation * Cooking, the preparation of food * Cook (domestic worker), a household staff member who prepares food * Cook (professional), an individual who prepares food for consumption in the food industry * ...

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 ...

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, and memoirist, best known for his books of French country cooking.

Biography

Olney was born in

Marathon, Iowa Marathon is a city in Buena Vista County, Iowa, United States. The population was 230 at the time of the 2020 census. The food writer Richard Olney grew up in Marathon. Every year in June in Marathon, a marathon and 5k are held. The Marathon is a ...

. He lived in a house above the village of Solliès-Toucas in

Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bo ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, for most of his adult life, where he wrote many classic and influential cookbooks of French country cooking. He had first moved to France in 1951, to Paris, where he was close friends with (and painted many of) the American and English bohemian expatriate set, including

James Baldwin James Arthur Baldwin (August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987) was an American writer. He garnered acclaim across various media, including essays, novels, plays, and poems. His first novel, '' Go Tell It on the Mountain'', was published in 1953; ...

, filmmaker

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, painter

John Craxton John Leith Craxton RA, (3 October 1922 – 17 November 2009) was an English painter. He was sometimes called a neo-Romantic artist but he preferred to be known as a "kind of Arcadian". Biography Career John was the son of musician Harold ...

, poet

John Ashbery John Lawrence Ashbery (July 28, 1927 – September 3, 2017) was an American poet and art critic. Ashbery is considered the most influential American poet of his time. Oxford University literary critic John Bayley wrote that Ashbery "sounded, in ...

, and composer

Ned Rorem Ned Rorem (October 23, 1923 – November 18, 2022) was an American composer of contemporary classical music and writer. Best known for his art songs, which number over 500, Rorem was the leading American of his time writing in the genre. Althoug ...

. His deep knowledge of traditional classic French food and wine got him a job writing a column entitled ''Un Américain (gourmand) à Paris'' for the journal ''Cuisine et Vins de France'' beginning in 1962. After ''The French Menu Cookbook'' was published in English in 1970, his then-revolutionary approach of seasonal menus and close attention to wine pairings began to attract notice in Britain and America. By the time he wrote ''Simple French Food'' in 1974, he was one of the most important food writers of the era, with a huge impact on

nouvelle cuisine ''Nouvelle cuisine'' (; ) is an approach to cooking and food presentation in French cuisine. In contrast to cuisine classique, an older form of haute cuisine, nouvelle cuisine is characterized by lighter, more delicate dishes and an increased e ...

and

California cuisine California cuisine is a food movement that originated in California. The cuisine focuses on dishes that are driven by local and sustainable ingredients with an attention to seasonality and an emphasis on the bounty of the region. The food is hi ...

Alice Waters Alice Louise Waters (born April 28, 1944) is an American chef, restaurateur, and author. In 1971 she opened Chez Panisse, a Berkeley, California restaurant famous for its role in creating the farm-to-table movement and for pioneering Californi ...

, of

Chez Panisse Chez Panisse is a Berkeley, California, restaurant, known as one of the originators of the style of cooking known as California cuisine, and the farm-to-table movement. The restaurant emphasizes ingredients rather than technique and has develo ...

restaurant in Berkeley, California, and

Kermit Lynch Kermit Lynch (born December 1941 Bakersfield, California) is an American wine importer and author based in Berkeley, California. He is the author of ''Adventures on the Wine Route,'' which won the Veuve Clicquot Wine Book of the Year award, as w ...

, the well-known Berkeley wine writer and retailer, were both disciples. He introduced Lynch to many French wine growers, including Lucien and Lulu Peyraud of Domaine Tempier, who were then re-establishing the

Bandol AOC Provence (Provençal) wine comes from the French wine-producing region of Provence in southeast France. The Romans called the area ''provincia nostra'' ("our province"), giving the region its name. Just south of the Alps, it was the first Roman p ...

as a vineyard area of the first rank.

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, ...

was an important American mentor, and Olney, in the midst of his career, taught a series of cooking classes in Beard's West Village apartment. Despite this, Olney, in a memoir, presents a mixed picture of Beard's character. From 1977 to 1982, Olney edited the 28-volume Time-Life book series '' The Good Cook''. By the time of his death, from heart failure, in addition to the Time-Life set he had written many of his own brilliant, idiosyncratic, poetic books about food and wine. His last book, ''Reflexions'', a memoir, was published posthumously by Brick Tower Press. Olney died aged 72 in Solliès-Toucas, France. The ''

Observer Food Monthly ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'' panel of chefs, cooks, writers and restaurateurs elected ''The French Menu Cookbook'' as their favourite cookbook in early 2010, but were saddened that it was very difficult to find. Since then the book has been republished.''Observer Food Monthly'', December 2010, no. 115.

English bibliography

*''The French Menu Cookbook: The Food and Wine of France—Season by Delicious Season—in Beautifully Composed Menus for American Dining and Entertaining by an American Living in Paris and Provence'' (1970), *''Simple French Food'' (1974), *''Yquem'' (1986), *''Ten Vineyard Lunches'' (1988), (later reprinted as Richard Olney's French Wine & Food: A Wine Lover's Cookbook (1997)) *''Provence, the Beautiful Cookbook: Authentic Recipes from the Regions of Provence'' (1993), *''Lulu's Provençal Table: The Exuberant Food and Wine from Domaine Tempier Vineyard'' (1994), *''Romanée Conti: The World's Most Fabled Wine'' (1995), *''Cooking for Two'' (1996), *''The Good Cook's Encyclopedia'' (1997), (ed.) *''Richard Olney's French Wine and Food: A Wine Lover's Cookbook'' (1997), *''Reflexions'' (1999), * (anthologized in) ''American Food Writing: An Anthology with Classic Recipes'', ed. Molly O'Neill (Library of America, 2007),

References

External links

''The Independent'' obituary
* ttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/dec/12/richard-olney-french-cooking-provence ''The Guardian'', December 2010br>''The New York Times'' Style Magazine, August 2010
{{DEFAULTSORT:Olney, Richard 1927 births 1999 deaths American food writers American emigrants to France French food writers American gay writers People from Buena Vista County, Iowa 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American male writers James Beard Foundation Award winners American male non-fiction writers 20th-century LGBT people