Diana Kennedy (; 3 March 1923 – 24 July 2022) was a British food writer. The preeminent English-language authority on Mexican cuisine, Kennedy was known for her nine books on the subject, including The Cuisines of Mexico, which changed how Americans view Mexican cuisine. Kennedy received numerous awards for her work, including the Order of the Aztec Eagle from the Mexican government, and was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire.
Life
Kennedy was born Diana Southwood in Loughton, Essex, in the southeast of England, on 3 March 1923. Her father was a salesman, and her mother a schoolteacher.
Kennedy attended South Hampstead High School. She did not go on to university because of World War II and instead, at age 19, joined the Women's Timber Corps: a civilian organisation that took over forestry duties from men who had gone off to fight.
On a last-minute decision, Kennedy decided to visit Haiti in 1957. There she met Paul P. Kennedy, a correspondent for The New York Times in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. The two moved to Mexico in 1957, and there they married some time later, remaining together until his death from cancer in 1967, aged 62. Kennedy had no children, When she was not teaching, she was either writing or working in the kitchen on recipes.
She visited every state in Mexico, and used diverse forms of transportation, from buses, to donkeys to her Nissan pickup truck with no power steering (and a shovel to dig it out of the mud). She travelled to isolated areas of Mexico to visit markets and cooks to ask about cooking ingredients and methods.
First exposure to Mexican cuisine
During her first years in Mexico City with her husband in the late 1950s, often sleeping in her old Nissan truck. She regularly interviewed and cooked with a variety of cooks, but especially those from rural areas, cooking for family and friends. She even apprenticed in a bakery in Mexico City to learn the all-male trade. However, Kennedy dismissed most chefs doing Mexican food during her time because they had not done the travelling and research that she had and innovated rather than preserved original methods.
Her influence was not limited to the United States as her work was very well received in Mexico. She received numerous awards in this country including the Order of the Aztec Eagle,
Quinta Diana/Diana Kennedy Center
Kennedy permanently returned to Mexico in 1976, initially living in Mexico City.