Subject

Chef, author of cookbooks, inventor. One of the first celebrity chefs. Born France. Trained in Paris and fled to England during the French Revolution in 1830. Designed, invented and introduced various innovations: mobile cooking carriage for the Army, cooking with gas, refrigerators cooled by cold water, ovens with adjustable temperatures and a tabletop stove. Went to the Crimean War and designed a field stove for use by the troops. Died at home, 15 Marlborough Road. The 1842 portrait is by his wife, (Elizabeth) Emma, who was a professional artist (we believe, but some sources confusingly date this portrait after her death.) Londonist reports on a mamoth soup kitchen that Soyer organised on Christmas Day 1851.