Beck, Simone, 1904-1991

Cookbook author and cooking instructor Simone "Simca" Beck (1904-1992) was born in Normandy, France. In 1933 Beck began taking classes at the Cordon Bleu in Paris, but her professional career as a cook and teacher did not begin until nearly twenty years later, after she had become involved in the Cercle des Gourmettes, an exclusive women's culinary club. She and Louisette Bertholle, who also joined the Cercle, began working on a French cookbook for Americans. After an unsuccessful attempt at writing a full-length cookbook, they published the brief What's Cooking in France? in 1952. Beck followed with the booklet, Le Pruneau Devant le Forneau: Recettes de Cuisine (ca. 1952), her only publication in French. After she met Julia Child in 1949 the idea of writing a cookbook for Americans was rekindled. Child joined the Cercle too, and the three worked closely together. They formed their own Ecole des Trois Gourmandes in 1951 to give lessons in French cooking to American women living in Paris; the school continued on and off into the late 1970s. In 1961 they published Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. I. Volume II, co-authored by Beck and Child alone, followed in 1970.

Beck stayed active professionally, teaching at her home and giving cooking demonstrations around the world. In 1972 she published her own cookbook, Simca's Cuisine, with Patricia Simon. She published the second volume, New Menus from Simca's Cuisine, with Michael James in 1979. Food and Friends: Recipes and Memories from Simca's Cuisine, her autobiography and last cookbook (with Suzy Patterson), was published in 1991.