Gourmet's Basic French Cookbook Cooking a la Ritz Louis Felix Diat[1] (May 5, 1885 – August 29, 1957)[2] was a French-American chef and culinary writer.
Born in France ... naturalized thirty years ago as an American citizen ... ardently democratic in his sympathics today ... M. Diat is one of the most famous among the clever chefs of America.
He is a tall, slender, courtly man—very handsome with his iron-gray hair, heavy black brows, and dark, luminous eyes.
Kindly, diffident in manner, he is nevertheless an exacting boss over the maze of kitchens, pantries and storerooms and the small army that mans them.
In 1906, at 21, he transferred to The Ritz Hotel London, where he held the same position[12] and also aided the main sauce maker.
[15] [A] tall, slim, handsome man with thick gray hair and wide, bushy eyebrows.
[5] During his 41-year[13][6] stint at the Ritz-Carlton, he cooked for King Edward VIII as the Prince of Wales;[12] other nobles like queens, prime ministers, and ambassadors;[16] and on one occasion, the exclusive wine club Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin ("Knights of the Wine Cup").
"Formidable" yet benign, Diat served as the kitchen mediator and first aid expert in the case of injuries.
[7] In 1938, Diat won the distinguished Chevalier du Mérite Agricole "for having done so much to bring an important element of culture and civilization to the United States".
[24] His experimenting soon led to a combination of "leeks, onions, potatoes, butter, milk, cream and other seasonings".
Diat recalled that Sara Roosevelt had had vichysoisse and "once called me up at five in the afternoon and asked me to send eight portions to her house".
[10] When Diat had no access to leeks in his cooking, his vexation prompted the produce stocker to find a Long Island farmer to cultivate a small yield.
[10] Lucien Diat, younger than Louis by seventeen years,[10] was the renowned executive chef at Plaza Athénée hotel in Paris[13][6] and also the teacher of Jacques Pépin.
[note 2] She reminisced, "Louis always thought the United States had a magnificent supply of really fine foods, that there was no place in Europe that could rival it in the variety and quality of available ingredients.
"[32] Cooking à la Ritz[note 3] included Diat's recipe for vichyssoise,[12] along with other dishes he created during his time at the Ritz-Carlton.
[33] Diat alleged that American women cannot cook since they "often ruin good food trying to save" money or time.
In response to this dilemma, Diat wrote a book entitled La Cuisine de Ma Mère to divulge all his "cooking secrets".
[1] Louis Diat was also depicted in Season One, Episode 23 of popular anime series Food Wars!, where he is referenced due to his creation of vichyssoise.