Jehane Benoît

Who was Jehane Benoît?

Jehane Benoît, OC was a Canadian culinary author, speaker, commentator, journalist, and broadcaster. After studying at the Sorbonne and the Cordon Bleu cooking school in Paris, she started her own cooking school, Fumet de la Vieille France, in Montreal. She also opened one of Canada's first vegetarian restaurants, "The Salad Bar", in 1935.

Best known as "Madame Benoît," she wrote 30 books during her career, including the Encyclopedia of Canadian Cuisine. She appeared regularly on CBC Television's Take 30 and later became a proponent of microwave cookery, writing several books on the subject as well as appearing in television commercials for Panasonic microwaves.

In 1973, she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada "for her contribution to this art in Canada".

In 2012, Marguerite Paulin and Marie Desjardins published Jehane Benoît's biography À la découverte de Jehane Benoît, le roman de la grande dame de la cuisine canadienne.