Dione Lucas

Who was Dione Lucas?

Dione Lucas was an English chef, and the first female graduate of Le Cordon Bleu. Lucas was fundamental in establishing an unprecedented extension of the famous Paris Culinary School in London in the 1930s. She worked as a hotel chef in Hamburg before World War II and wrote of preparing stuffed squab for Adolf Hitler. She later opened a Cordon Bleu restaurant and a cooking school in New York. She also ran the Egg Basket restaurant by Bloomingdale's in New York. Her cooking show To The Queen's Taste was broadcast on CBS in 1948-1949 from the restaurant. She had another show in the 1950s.

Dione Lucas was the first woman featured in a cooking show on television on WPIX-11 in New York. In one of her New York restaurants, The Gingerman, Lucas helped to introduce the omelette to the American palate. She can be seen as a predecessor and influence to Julia Child. Dione Lucas authored several cookbooks on French cuisine.