Roald Dahl died in 1990. Millions of children of all ages felt morally orphaned. It’s understandable. “Loud, vagabond, adventurer, lover of opera, 19th-century painting, and 18th-century furniture, good-natured, connoisseur of Bordeaux wines, charmer of women, the most insidious roommate of all time, Uncle Oswald” from his own fairy tales was a giant. From any angle. Two meters tall, the long-legged Viking had talent and intellectual rigor symmetrical to his Hercules.
One of the world’s most famous figures in children’s literature and dark thrillers, widely translated, with dizzying sales, Roald Dahl never tired of searching for his style. He was born and lived in style.
A heavy and fascinating biography
A difficult and fascinating biography, which he recorded in two volumes (The Boy and The Independent Way). His parents were Norwegian. He was born in 1916 in Great Britain, the eldest of three platinum-haired, eccentric sisters. The Shell oil company sent him to Dar es Salaam for four years, and during World War II he joined the Royal Air Force in Nairobi. Libya, Greece, Syria, seriously wounded in aerial combat. In Washington, where he served as military attaché to the British Air Force from 1942, he began publishing his novels in the New Yorker. A series of books followed. Kiss-Kiss was the most successful of all. Television filmed scripts based on his works, multiplying the potential for publicity. A love marriage to Hollywood actress Patricia Neal, four children, great happiness. And then a cruel twist of fate brought the half-stunned blonde Patricia to bed, the tragic ruin of her former beauty. Roald Dahl was entrusted with raising the children. As always, he improvised, imaginatively and vividly. At night, he wrote them amazing stories. James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, The Witches, Matilda — funny, wise, hedonistically disgusting stories of despair that Western children will love. A comforting example for us, mediocre people, Nietzschean and Olvien people who create smiles through drama. Monks? No. Because while doctors give no hope, Dahl will cure his wife! Oh yes, I said: more than life. And they will divorce later. Return to Europe. In 1983, he will marry his Welsh country girl Felicity, a brilliant brunette who honours her name. They will live happily in the Gypsy House, Felicity’s ancestral estate in Buckinghamshire. In the company of three daughters from his first marriage, the new Mrs. Dahl, Roald’s four children, grandchildren, brothers and sisters, friends, neighbors, and talented… cooks.
Roald Dahl’s Cookbook
All this lively anthropomania contributed to the emergence of Roald Dahl’s Cookbook, which was recently published and is becoming a hit in England. It is a wonderful cookbook. Original, comprehensive, thorough, and obviously well written. But above all, it is euphoric. Perfect for summer reading. Dahl’s latest work confirms that the author remains brilliant even in small, everyday things. A Renaissance man who knows, recognizes, and appreciates the temporary, fragile pleasures of food and drink. The generous host and his wife talk about dinners at the Gypsy House: Christmas, Easter, the birthdays of the first and third generations, anniversaries, even dinner with the dog.
During their seven years of marriage, the Dalis hire a new housekeeper every year. Girls from Australia, the Netherlands, and Britain definitely meet one important requirement: they know how to cook. In exceptional circumstances, they are invited as experienced professionals who quickly befriend the housekeepers. The stars are various celebrities: Dustin Hoffman, Ustinov, writer Phyllis Dorothy James, John Le Carré. And beloved figures and brands of English cuisine, such as Arabella Boxer from The Times, the unforgettable Jane Grigson, Prue Leith, the star of the No. 1 cookbook series on television Delia Smith, and perhaps the most exquisite fish chef, Rick Steyn https://znaki.fm/persons/rick-stein/ himself, parade in one of the most delicious and interesting recipe books I have ever seen.
The participants’ comments are both gentle and sharp. The recipes are often taken from the past. Such as delicious almond soup, old-fashioned cookies, jams, jellies, and pickles.
