The first of two articles marking the hundredth anniversary of the birth of women whose careers defined their arts in the twentieth century looks at Elizabeth David, whose simple recipes brought the flavour of Mediterranean fare to a war-weary nation – a far cry from the pretentiousness of today’s celebrity chefs The centenary of Elizabeth David’s birth – on Boxing Day, 1913 – has not been widely celebrated, for reasons I cannot begin to comprehend. It has become a commonplace to say that Elizabeth David brought Mediterranean sunlight to a drab post-Second World War Britain, but that is what she did, in a style that is as precise as it is elegant. She lives on, in that incomparable prose.I was introduced to her by my dear friend, Jane Grigson. At that time,