Dione Lucas was an English chef, and the woman who was the first female graduate of Le Cordon Bleu

Le Cordon Bleu

Le Cordon Bleu is the world's largest hospitality education institution, with 35 schools on five continents serving 20,000 students annually. Its primary education focus is on hospitality management and the culinary arts...

. Lucas was fundamental in establishing an unprecedented extension of the famous Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 Culinary School in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 in the 1930s. She worked as a hotel chef in Hamburg

Hamburg

-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

 before World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 and wrote of preparing stuffed squab

Squab

Squab may refer to:* A young domestic pigeon** Squab , the meat from such a bird* A cushion for a chair or couch* Squab, California, in Napa County...

 for Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...

. She later opened a Cordon Bleu restaurant and a cooking school in New York. She also ran the Egg Basket restaurant by Bloomingdale's

Bloomingdale's

Bloomingdale's is an American department store owned by Macy's, Inc. .Bloomingdale's started in 1861 when brothers Joseph and Lyman G. Bloomingdale started selling hoop-skirts in their Ladies Notions' Shop on Manhattan's Lower East Side...

 in New York. Her cooking show To The Queen's Taste was broadcast on CBS

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 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. In one of her New York restaurants, The Gingerman, Lucas helped to introduce the omelette

Omelette

In cuisine, an omelette or omelet is a dish made from beaten eggs quickly cooked with butter or oil in a frying pan, sometimes folded around a filling such as cheese, vegetables, meat , or some combination of the above...

 to the American palate.
She can be seen as a predecessor and influence to Julia Child

Julia Child

Julia Child was an American chef, author, and television personality. She is recognized for introducing French cuisine to the American public with her debut cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and her subsequent television programs, the most notable of which was The French Chef, which...

.
Dione Lucas authored several cookbooks on French cuisine

French cuisine

French cuisine is a style of food preparation originating from France that has developed from centuries of social change. In the Middle Ages, Guillaume Tirel , a court chef, authored Le Viandier, one of the earliest recipe collections of Medieval France...

.

Quotes

• "The preparation of good food is merely another expression of art, one of the joys of civilized living."

• "I do not mean to spoil your appetite for stuffed squab, but you might be interested to know that it was a great favorite with Mr Hitler, who dined at the hotel often. Let us not hold that against a fine recipe though." Vegetarianism of Adolf Hitler
  Vegetarianism of Adolf Hitler
  In addition to being a teetotaler and a non-smoker, Adolf Hitler has been regarded by some as a vegetarian. It has been theorized that Hitler's diet may have been based on Richard Wagner's historical theories which connected the future of Germany with vegetarianism...
  
  

Books

• The Cordon Bleu Cook Book (1947)
• The Dione Lucas Meat and Poultry Cook Book (1955, with Anne Roe Robbins)
• The Gourmet Cooking School Cookbook (1964)
• The Dione Lucas Book of Natural French Cooking (1977, with Marion & Felipe Alba)
• Gourmet Cooking School Cookbook (1982 with Darlene Geis)