Relish: The Extraordinary Life of Alexis Soyer, Victorian Celebrity Chef Paperback – 3 May 2007

When I came across Ruth Cowen's hugely readable biography of the enterprising chef Alexis Soyer I was really surprised that I'd never encountered him before. It soon became clear from this wonderfully entertaing read that Soyer had led a hugely interesting life, as well as in the end an important one. He may have been a bit of a dandy who loved to hang out with important people, but he also used his cooking skills to great effect in the Crimea by combining them with some amazing life-saving inventions. And who couldn't like a man who thought nothing of turning out a dinner with one of the courses presented as a great ship under sail?

It's hard to know where to start with this book because there's so much in it.The central character Alexis Soyer is an amazing man, and the book is full of fascinating facts,colourful minor characters,and charming, wise and sometimes very funny little asides from the Author.It's much more than the plod through the facts and the dates you get with some biographies.Ruth Cowen has obviously worked very hard digging up obscure research, but the book is the opposite of hard work to read.It's written in a very easy to read style, so it doesn't "overload" the facts-it's just constantly interesting with nice surprises on every page.I think it's fabulous.I bought it knowing nothing about the subject, but I'm now glad I did.I learned loads but it was thoroughly enjoyable too.

One of the most colourful books out there and Soyer links together so many different aspects of British history, despite him being French!

From inventing gas cooking that literally extended the average life span of cooks (side effects of coke made them die young), creating pickle recipes for a little known company called Crosse and Blackwell through to saving so many lives in the Irish potato famine and Crimean War. Throw in some names such as Florence Nightingale, Queen Victoria, Schweppes and it makes an amazing recipe...

Quite simply one of the rare books that captures you from the very first chapter. You share the journey of Soyer rather than just read about it.

Refreshing indeed.

I loved this book - the amazing life story, the wealth of period detail and all the wonderful foodie stuff, I was salivating from the first banquet onwards and finished it in a weekend. The parallels with Jamie Oliver's public campaigns and those of Alexis Soyer's a 100 years earlier are obvious, but Ruth Cowen wisely sticks to her story and lets you draw your own conclusions. I found the account of the Crimean war and how he saved so many soldiers lives with his stove immensely moving. Simply brilliant book.

What a fascinating biography! It's hard to believe that Alexis Soyer is hardly known in this country but what better time to discover one of the first serious celebrity chefs. Ruth Cowen's book conjures up delicious images of banquets but also the grime and squalor of the Crimea wonderfully and it reads like a novel. For anyone remotely interested in biography, history, food or celebrity this is definitely worth a read!

Not being generally a biography reader, nor a proactive book reviewer, I decided to add my say, since this book is a thoroughly riveting read which I couldn't put down (usually associated for me with, say, a Robert Ludlum novel!) to the extent of taking it travelling with me - and it must weigh 3-4 lbs in current form!

The sheer charisma of the main character leaps out at you from the page and along with the fascinating detail about the times he lived in makes reading about him and the soap opera that was his life so compulsive. In addition the writing is done with a lightness of touch which compels you to keep turning pages, and before you know it the time has flown by and the dinner has burned!

It's a wonderful book, defined for me by the fact that, like a really good movie, ever since I finished reading it, I still find myself thinking about the man himself and the fascinating times he lived in.

How French food flourished since the 18th century, the development of some of history's greatest chefs, and how these ideas were brought to Britain are exciting topics. Relish- The Extraordinary Life of a Victorian Celebrity Chef discusses the life of Alexis Soyer, who was born in Meaux-en-Brie in France, but came to fame for his culinary skills in England. After working for some of the upper class of Britain, he came to work for the Reform Club in London, where he began to build his reputation. He established many entrepreneurial and charitable projects, including looking to modernise and improve the quality of food in soup kitchens, publishing several cookbooks aiming to make cooking more accessible for the masses, and creating a culinary experience house for The Great Exhibition. He worked with manufacturers to develop new type of gas cookers for the domestic kitchen, the earliest forms of what we have today, and created portable versions of these gas cookers for the troops in the Crimean War, where he went to pioneer their use and assist the army. Not without the celebrity that his position afforded, he had various love affairs and variable personal relationships which add spice to the history. These relationships, and his considerable contribution to gastronomy, make his life a truly interesting one to read about.

Relish is a well written book, especially well researched, and easy to read- perhaps not surprising, since the subject matter itself can easily keep interest. There is good insight into culture and society at the time, particularly into the limitations of cooking equipment and how culinary teams worked, and the view on The Great Exhibition from a chef's perspective is very interesting. You don't need to know much about culinary history to appreciate it either. A thoroughly enjoyable read, well recommended.