Fabulously Delicious: The French Food Podcast · Andrew Prior

Revisited: The Story of Alexis Soyer - The Frenchman Who Changed British Food Forever

·35 min·3 clips

A French chef in 1837 London changed British food forever, yet today almost no one knows his name.

This episode profiles Alexis Soyer, a 19th-century French chef whose innovations transformed British food culture, public feeding, and military catering. Host Andrew Pryor, a food writer and former MasterChef contestant living in France, narrates Soyer's biography. Soyer was born in 1810 in Meaux-en-Brie, a town known for its Brie cheese and mustard. He began his career in Parisian restaurants like Maison Deux before fleeing to London after the 1830 July Revolution. In London, Soyer worked for aristocratic households like the Duke of Sutherland's Stafford House before becoming head chef at the Reform Club in 1837. At the Reform Club, he designed a revolutionary kitchen featuring gas stoves, slate-topped larders, and a central steam-heated table. His signature dish, Lamb Cutlets Reform, has remained on the club's menu since the 1840s. During the Irish Potato Famine, Soyer published cheap soup recipes in *The Times* and established a model soup kitchen in Dublin capable of feeding 1,000 people per hour. He invented the portable "Soyer's Stove" for the British Army during the Crimean War, where he collaborated with Florence Nightingale. Soyer was a prolific author, publishing works like *The Gastronomic Regenerator* with nearly 2,000 recipes and *A Shilling Cookery for the People*, which sold over 110,000 copies in four months. His personal life included a first love, Adelaide Lamont, with whom he had a son, and a marriage to artist Elizabeth Emma Jones, who died following a miscarriage. He later had a romantic friendship with ballerina Fanny Cerito, for whom he created a sculptural dessert. Soyer died in 1858 at age 48, with his will omitting his son and leaving money to his niece and housekeeper. A contemporary newspaper report claimed he secretly married Fanny Cerito the year before his death, though many historians doubt this. The episode is presented in an educational and narrative style, blending biographical storytelling with detailed historical context. Pryor's tone is enthusiastic and conversational, often speaking directly to the listener about Soyer's impact. This episode is ideal for listeners fascinated by culinary history, forgotten innovators, and detailed stories of 19th-century social change. Those seeking quick cooking tips or contemporary food trends might find the historical depth less engaging.

As heard by us

A food-history episode about invention, hunger relief, and the kitchen as a place where practical change happens.

This episode follows Alexis Soyer, the French chef who came to London, rebuilt the Reform Club kitchen from the ground up, and used plain, practical invention to change how Britain thought about food.

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Why you'd press play

You want a French chef story that starts in London and reshapes how Britain thought about food.

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