Ahead of our digital release of Diana Kennedy: Nothing Fancy on 1 May, we’re celebrating the culinary icon and 97-year-old force of nature that is Diana Kennedy with some of our favourite facts about her.
she was born in war-time england
Long before she was a cookbook writer, Dana Kennedy lived through World War II. At 17, she joined the Women’s Timber Corps, spending her days in Wales with other civilians, cutting down trees with an ax, making her small, daily contribution toward the war effort. To supplement rations, she roasted potatoes and onions, and fished for trout. (Source: The New York Times).
she has a great opening line
“I came to Mexico in 1957 with $500 and a half-promise of matrimony.” Diana moved to Mexico with her future husband, New York Times foreign correspondent Paul Kennedy, while on a trip in Haiti. During the years the couple lived in Mexico City, where her husband was based, Kennedy became fascinated by the local food, cooking it and researching the recipes and techniques. (Source: Los Angeles Times).
it’s all about the research
Diana learned quickly that the best food in Mexico was not in fancy restaurants but rather in markets, traditional family restaurants called "fondas" and in homes. She also came to appreciate that recipes varied from region to region, traveling with her husband when he was on assignment. Kennedy's focus became the food that was not documented, such as that found in villages, markets and homes, eventually to preserve native ingredients and traditional recipes being lost as Mexicans move from rural areas to urban centers.
SHE’S THE DAME OF MEXICAN CUISINE
Diana is one of only two British people who have been given the Order of the Aztec Eagle - the highest recognition for foreigners granted by the Mexican government. She’s also been presented with an MBE for furthering cultural relations between the UK and Mexico.
SHE WANTS YOU TO MAKE GUACAMOLE THE RIGHT WAY
Given her focus on authentic cuisine and cooking, it’s not surprising that Diana Kennedy is very precise about the ingredients that go into the perfect guacamole. In the film, she briskly tells people off for putting garlic in their guac. Instead, as she then explains, you just need white onions, serrano chiles, coriander, salt, avocados, and tomatoes.
BE CAREFUL WHO YOU COMPARE HER TO
Diana Kennedy has been compared to Julia Child for how she promoted Mexican cuisine, much the way that Child did for French cuisine. However, while flattered, she dismisses the comparison and much prefers being called “the Mick Jagger of Mexican Cooking”, which she said happened “after I’d given a rousing talk at the Texas book festival in my leather trousers and fur-lined leather jacket … it was wonderful.” (Source: The Guardian).
SHE’S AN ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVIST
Diana has been living and practicing sustainability for much of her long life. She uses electricity only when necessary, reuses any plastic (like the bags she uses to press tortillas) multiple times, filters all the water (she allows only neutral soaps) used at Quinta Diana for irrigation, and grows her own coffee beans. (Source: Los Angeles Times).
SHE has a unique personality
Beneath Diana’s fiery style, she is witty, intellectual, and culturally aware. Her occasional exhibitions of humor and self-awareness quell her intensity and reveal a lighter side. In Diana Kennedy: Nothing Fancy, Viewers accompany her in intimate settings at home: cooking, exercising, yelling at her dogs, driving her truck, and traveling to accept awards and speak to audiences. Whether she is instructing chefs at her infamous “Boot Camp” cooking school, blazing over the cobblestone roads of Zitácuaro in her truck, or sunbathing with a scotch on her balcony, Diana is captivating - bold, spirited, and unapologetically herself.