Mapie de Toulouse-Lautrec


Marie Pierre "Mapie" de Toulouse-Lautrec was a French journalist and food writer, born Marie Pierre Adélaïde Lévêque de Vilmorin in Verrières-le-Buisson, scion of the Vilmorin seed company. Her horticulturalist father was Joseph Marie Philippe Lévêque de Vilmorin, and her mother was the former Bertha Marie Mélanie de Gaufridy de Dortan. The writer Louise de Vilmorin was her younger sister, while one of her younger brothers, Roger, was the result of an affair between her mother and Alfonso XIII of Spain. Her other siblings were Henri, Olivier, and André.

Career

Mapie de Toulouse-Lautrec started her career in journalism at Fémina magazine, where she had a society column, and wrote theatre reviews. After the war, Hélène Lazareff hired her as cookery columnist for Elle. She invented the detachable recipe card for that magazine. Her recipes are elegant and original, and of an alluring simplicity. In 1961 she collected most of them in a book called La cuisine de Mapie. This collection was reprinted in 2004, with a preface by her daughter Adelaide.

Personal life

Mapie married twice; her husbands were: