Name La Mazille | Role Writer | |
Died March 9, 1984, Ile-de-France, France | ||
La Mazille (born Andrée Maze, 1891–1984) was a French writer, best remembered for being the author of the cookbook La Bonne Cuisine du Périgord.
Contents
Biography
Andrée Maze was born in 1891 in Puteaux in the suburb of Paris. Both of her parents had family roots from the Périgord near Périgueux around the Isle river. She spent her childhood and youth with her parents and sister between Paris and the Périgord.
Many of the information she gathered and recorded was directly from local people who, back then, were sometimes illiterate or had little or no education on writing skills. She herself was not a cook, but she had always had curiosity for good cuisine. Her parents had excellent regional cook working for them long before World War I. So Andrée learned from observing these women in the kitchen and seeing their cooking methods.
Andrée Maze married Albert Mallet, who was also from that part of the Périgord and they lived together in Paris. After the birth of their two daughters, Albert suggested to his wife to write down the recipes for the dishes which were served in their homes in the Périgord, with the idea of putting them together in a cookbook.
At the time there was no such thing as a regional cookbook with these recipes under a written form. Albert Mallet had connections in the publishing circles in Paris and got a contract with the publishing house Flammarion for his wife. The book was titled La Bonne Cuisine du Périgord and was for sale in 1929. It was illustrated with fine black and white drawings by Renée Maze. Andrée Mallet-Maze chose the pen name of La Mazille, as homage to a great aunt of hers.
The book soon was a success and much talked about. It has since become a reference because it contains recipes which were collected first hand and directly transcribed by La Mazille from cooks who worked in various kitchens from fine estates. La Bonne Cuisine du Périgord was printed several times and with different covers. The last edition was in 1999 by the same editor Flammarion. A Dutch translation was also available.
La Mazille had a unique sense for understanding the spirit of cooking and a very charming way of describing the way to cook. Because of her work and research many of these traditional dishes are still remembered and served. It contains a certain lost folklore which is precious to keep.
La Mazille continued all through her life to be part of the literary life in the Périgord. She owned a lovely home there called Le Cluseau set on the top of a hill in the village of Planèze where she loved to spend time with her large family. She had never ceased to write about the Périgord, novels, tales, stories and poems. She also wrote an autobiography.
Andrée Mallet-Maze died in 1984 near Paris.
Prize La Mazille
Every two years, the Salon International du Livre Gourmand of Périgueux gives out a number of prizes to the best recently published cookbooks.
The prize La Mazille has been given to the following releases: