The People's Chef

During the first half of the nineteenth century, Alexis Soyer, a Frenchman from Meaux, was the most famous cook in London. A combination of chance, talent and social conscience took him into many of the great events of his time.

Born in 1810, he cooked his way through the Paris July Days in 1830; he oversaw the building of London's most modern kitchen at the Reform Club, where he ran the kitchen from 1837 to 1850. He designed a model soup kitchen which he took to Ireland, at the Lord Lieutenant's request, during the 1847 famine. He also opened London's first Parisian-type restaurant in conjunction with the Great Exhibition in 1851.

In 1855, he went to the Crimea to take over the running of the kitchens in Florence Nightingale's hospital at Scutari. When he died in 1858, Soyer was helping Miss Nightingale reform British army catering.

The People's Chef by Ruth Brandon explores the extraordinary life and achievements of Alexis Soyer, offering a vivid portrayal of this fascinating culinary innovator.