36:(23 October 1919 – 18 February 2017) was a British cook, teacher and writer. Born in London to an Italian father and Belgian mother, he followed his father into the catering industry and became a successful chef. In 1950 he decided that he wished to pass on his cooking skills to a new generation and retrained as a college lecturer. Together with his colleague Ronald Kinton he published a cookery book,
780:, London. Like Ceserani, he was one of the founding staff members at the Acton Hotel School. He later moved to the staff of Garnett College. To mark his 100th birthday in 2021 Westminster Kingsway and the Institute of Hospitality inaugurated The Ronald Kinton Centenary Lecture, an annual event featuring speakers who are alumni of Westminster Kingsway.
152:. At first students copied all their recipes from the blackboard, but Ceserani and his fellow lecturer Ronald Kinton decided to save time by having the recipes printed. Kinton suggested that they should collaborate on and publish a recipe book specifically aimed at catering students. This was the genesis of their 1962 book
168:, the principal body awarding qualifications to students at catering (and many other) colleges. In 1965 he was appointed head of Ealing College's School of Hotel Keeping and Catering. It was one of the largest catering schools in Europe, with a staff of 40 teachers, and 300 full-time and 350 part-time students.
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I was very lucky working in such a club ... I'd sometimes have as many as ten salmon coming in in the morning weighing from seven pounds to fifty pounds ... and whole carcasses of venison would arrive, they’d been shot, they’d been gutted and skinned and they would arrive at the club ... huge hampers
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was written to help students prepare for national qualifications, the authors continually revised it to reflect changes in the awarding bodies, the curriculum, and in the way students were assessed. By the late 1980s, both authors, approaching seventy, looked to the future of the book and co-opted a
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Victor was simply the best, most passionate academician, an excellent cook and a great chef – a rare combination, not just in the UK, but also in the world. He was a giant in our profession, yet so gentle, humble and generous with advice and support. He was a man of action and an inspiration who led
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publishers, who, learning that projected sales to students could be as many as 10,000 copies, agreed to publish at £1 a copy. This price held for nearly ten years. The first edition came out in 1962. There are no pictures, except for a few line drawings showing cuts of meat. All the measurements in
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While convalescing after an operation in 1950 Ceserani reflected on his good fortune in having cooked in such a range of kitchens and having been so well taught by experts. He felt the urge to pass his knowledge on to a new generation of aspiring chefs. He resigned from Boodle's and took a year's
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in 1962, written specifically for apprentice chefs and trainees at cookery colleges. It was continually revised over the next four decades; Kinton, shortly followed by
Ceserani, handed over to younger writers for subsequent editions in the early 21st century.
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On leaving school, Ceserani joined the kitchens of the Ritz as an apprentice, at a wage of seven shillings and sixpence for a six-day week. Shortly after being awarded his post-apprenticeship certificate in 1937 he left the Ritz to become second chef at the
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and moved to the officers' mess as cook for the 19th
Battalion of Fusiliers in Cheshire. During the war, he cooked in various officers' messes. In 1942 he married Letitia Boyle, whom he had met at the Pheasantry Club in the
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in 1957. In 1959, when the
Catering Teachers' Association was formed, Ceserani was its first chairman, serving for four years. From 1962 to 1972, he combined his Ealing post with that of chief examiner for the
97:. In the late 1930s he received notification of conscription into the Italian army. He tore the papers up, as his father had just taken out UK nationality, and Ceserani did not regard himself as Italian.
325:, a colleague of Ceserani at Ealing. He was co-author from the seventh edition (1990) onwards. Before the eleventh edition (2008) Kinton withdrew and a new co-author joined the team − John Campbell, a
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651:, an honorary member of the Association culinaire français and the Académie culinaire de France, and an honorary fellow of Ealing College. He received the Grand cordon culinaire and a
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publication with colour plates. This meant a projected selling price of two guineas (£2.10p) − prohibitive for the average student. Instead the authors took the typescript to
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used to come ... in the appropriate season out would come tumbling pheasants, hares, rabbits, grouse, snipe, woodcock, partridges and so on, that all helped us considerably.
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degree. He retired from the college in 1980, and in his retirement was much in demand within the catering industry as a consultant and judge. He was consultant to
148:(now part of the University of North London). After completing the course he successfully applied for a post at the new Acton Hotel and Catering School, part of
44:
Ceserani retired from his catering college post in 1980, but remained active in retirement for many years, as a consultant and as a judge for, among others, the
236:. The first two chapters cover the basic methods of cookery and culinary terms (with an emphasis on French terms). In the rest of the book are chapters on
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Gortebeke. Annibale, nicknamed "Bobby", was an
Italian citizen until he took British nationality in the 1930s. He was a waiter at the
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Returning from France to London after demobilisation in 1946, Ceserani was appointed second chef and, from July 1948, head chef at
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club in St James's. Among its members were many from the landed aristocracy, some of whom augmented the kitchen's meagre post-war
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Ceserani died on 18 February 2017, aged 97. His funeral service was on 14 March at the Church of St
Vincent de Paul,
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Seven shillings and sixpence – 37½ pence in decimal currency – was the approximate equivalent of £70 a week in 2020.
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Nonetheless, Ceserani achieved a certain notoriety by experimenting with − unrationed − beaver as a meat course.
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was aimed at senior students. Ceserani retired from the authorial team before the twelfth edition (2012).
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Ronald F. Kinton (1921–2023) began his career with a three-year chef training course at what is now
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In 1968–69 Ceserani took a year's sabbatical from Ealing, serving as visiting professor at
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before the war. The marriage was lifelong; the couple had two sons, born in 1954 and 1957.
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they took it to a London publisher, who was willing to accept it but wanted to make it a
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in the US, combining his lecturing duties there with studying for and being awarded a
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Special Award (1984) and
Lifetime Achievement Award (1992). In 1975 he was created
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with game, salmon and other scarce but unrationed delicacies from their estates:
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began, Ceserani received his call-up papers for the
British army. He joined the
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65:, London, the only child of Annibale Ceserani and his wife, Josephine,
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The pronunciation of the family name became and remained anglicised (
925:"Catering author’s 100th birthday marked with Centenary Lecture"
333:, was published, designed for students in their first year, and
108:, and at first trained as a motor mechanic, but was promoted to
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742:, so much so that Victor's nickname at school was "Caesar".
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Foskett, Neil
Rippington, Patricia Paskins, Steve Thorpe
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Once
Ceserani and Kinton had finalised the text of their
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Now the War is Over: A Social
History of Britain 1945−51
772:. At the outbreak of the Second World War he joined the
77:, Belgium, had come to England as a refugee during the
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John Campbell, Foskett and Ceserani (without Kinton)
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1143:Chevaliers of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques
185:and among his posts was that of judge for the
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943:, Institute of Hospitality, 20 December 2023
329:-winning chef. From 2009 a separate volume,
1138:Academics of the University of West London
815:, Ancestry.co.uk. Retrieved 8 October 2022
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1133:Catering education in the United Kingdom
1068:. London: Best of British Publications.
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587:Campbell and Foskett (without Ceserani)
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61:Ceserani was born in Raphael Street,
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659:for services to catering education.
487:Ceserani, Kinton and David Foskett
166:City and Guilds of London Institute
161:Ealing College of Higher Education
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1148:British people of Italian descent
177:Master of Business Administration
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649:Chevalier des Palmes académiques
159:The Acton school became part of
81:. Their son was educated at the
16:British cook, teacher and writer
144:teacher training course at the
1001:"Foundation Practical Cookery"
1:
929:Hospitality and Catering News
663:Notes, references and sources
762:Westminster Kingsway College
331:Foundation Practical Cookery
837:"Obituary: Victor Ceserani"
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857:"New Head is Soccer Fan",
736:) rather than the Italian
197:. The latter said of him:
1153:People from Knightsbridge
1088:. London: Edward Arnold.
1049:. London: Edward Arnold.
1045:Ceserani, Victor (1989).
547:ib, Foskett listed first
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173:Michigan State University
146:North Western Polytechnic
1084:(1989). "Introduction".
859:County Times and Gazette
1066:The Best of British Men
1064:Miller, Martin (1993).
941:"Ron Kinton, 1921–2023"
897:Ceserani, pp. 80 and 86
150:Acton Technical College
1026:Addison, Paul (1995).
861:, 12 March 1965, p. 10
232:the first edition are
100:Five months after the
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83:London Oratory School
1123:British food writers
367:Ceserani and Kinton
115:King's Road, Chelsea
1030:. London: Pimlico.
813:"Vittorio Ceserani"
774:Army Catering Corps
321:younger co-author,
843:, 28 February 2017
643:Honours and awards
257:Farinaceous dishes
71:Ritz Hotel, London
1128:British educators
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1086:Catering for Life
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1047:Catering for Life
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931:, 29 January 2021
888:, 28 October 2009
882:"Victor Ceserani"
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335:Practical Cookery
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27:Vittorio Giuseppe
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886:The Caterer
841:The Caterer
621:Fourteenth
601:Thirteenth
201:by example.
195:Michel Roux
182:The Caterer
57:Early years
1107:Categories
1074:1285460355
788:References
770:Claridge's
356:Reference
304:Sandwiches
292:Vegetables
254:Egg dishes
95:St James's
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301:Savouries
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341:Editions
316:Because
295:Potatoes
234:imperial
127:Boodle's
121:Post-war
31:Ceserani
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421:Fourth
381:Second
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289:Salads
215:(1962)
191:Albert
668:Notes
653:Catey
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604:2015
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544:2004
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504:1996
484:1990
464:1987
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364:1962
350:Year
279:Bacon
251:Soups
1090:ISBN
1070:OCLC
1051:ISBN
1032:ISBN
768:and
733:-nee
729:-zə-
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431:ISBN
411:ISBN
391:ISBN
371:OCLC
276:Veal
273:Pork
270:Beef
260:Fish
193:and
731:RAH
727:SEE
657:MBE
527:ib
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467:ib
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