Robert Courtine Explained

Robert Julien Courtine (16 May 1910 – 14 April 1998) was a French food writer who also wrote under the pen names "La Reynière" and "Savarin".

Background

Courtine was a member of the far-right Action française during the 1930s, and was close to the anti-semitic journalist Henry Coston. During the German Occupation, he was an active participant in the collaborationist newspapers La France au travail and L'Appel. He left Paris in August 1944 for the Sigmaringen enclave. He was arrested in 1946 and sentenced to ten years at hard labor. The sentence was commuted in 1948, on condition that he not speak on the radio.[1]

In 1952, Courtine joined Le Monde where, using the pen name "La Reynière" (inspired by Grimod de La Reynière), he wrote the gastronomy column until 1993.

Courtine has written many books on gastronomy. The Hundred Glories of French Cooking, translated by Derek Coltman and published in North America by Doubleday in 1973, has been described as a "culinary art gallery" with recipes from throughout France, and "simplicity is their common threadchoice ingredients carefully prepared in the simplest manner, not over-garnished or over-rich."[2]

Publications

Notes

  1. « quitte Paris le 14 août 1944, Baden-Baden puis Sigmaringen, fuit vers l'Italie, arrêté le 9 janvier 1946 à Mérano, condamné le 12 décembre 1946 à 10 ans de travaux forcés, peine réduite en 1948 par le Président de la République, libéré mais interdit de toute responsabilité sur les ondes française par une commission d'épuration » Que sont devenus les collaborateurs ? - 319. Courtine
  2. News: 1973-12-28 . About food: the glories of French cooking . 2024-02-26 . The Ottawa Citizen . 33.

Bibliography

External links