Common Market Cookery: Fanny Cradock’s European Fantasy

Abstract

Fanny Cradock remains best known for her ball-gowns, brows and her berating of assistants, but she also had a lifelong ambition, threaded through her work. She wanted to bring the gastronomic landscape of Europe to the housewives of Britain. From her early days as a young, ambitious, jobbing newspaper feature writer, food activist and campaigner, to her rise as a television celebrity extraordinaire, she championed the style, the feel and the food of the Continent. This essay looks at Craddock's career and asks, was Fanny as ‘ProEU’ as she seemed, or would Brexit be more up her boulevard?