Death at 100 of Françoise Bernard, author of “Easy Recipes”, a timeless bestseller in fam cooking – franceinfo

Famous cook Françoise Bernard, known for her cookbooks, died at the age of 100, her publisher Hachette Pratique announced in a press release on Monday, September 20.

She entered the kitchens of the French by publishing in 1965 the first version of her bestseller, Easy Recipes, which offered simple and economical recipes. This work, which has “revolutionized family cooking”, has since been reissued several times and has sold over a million copies.

Born Andrée Jonquoy on the 2nd March 1921, Françoise Bernard started out as a typist before becoming “Françoise Bernard” playing a character to promote Unilever products, the company she worked for.

“Cooking was not my vocation.”

Francoise Bernard

In “L’Express”, in 2012

She then worked for advertising, playing the young modern housewife. From 1960, she became the ambassador of household appliances for the SEB brand, which earned her the nickname “Madame Cocotte-minute”.

In 1963, she wrote a first cookbook in the continuity of Ginette Mathiot, another pioneer of easy and family cooking, author of the famous I know how to cook published in 1932.

Françoise Bernard has given rise to many vocations among the greatest chefs, from Alain Ducasse to Cyril Lignac.