Arabella Boxer

The Grand Lady of English Food and One of my Food Heroines

I first met Arabella in 1994 when she came to the launch of my first book, Lebanese Cuisine. We had friends in common but I had yet to meet her in person, and I was thrilled when I found out she would be coming to my launch, especially as I was very new to the food world when she was one of its grandees — Arabella was then the vice president of the Guild of Food Writers and had recently finished a 19 year stint as the food columnist at Vogue, not to mention her numerous award-winning cookbooks as well as her personal awards.

She was simply lovely to talk to, with not an ounce of self importance; and to add to this, she was witty and very sharp. Sometime later, she invited me to a wonderful party she gave in her late mother’s house in Pimlico where I met practically everyone who was anyone in the food world. Since then, we have been firm friends.

I have all her cookbooks in Sicily where I keep my library but there is one I have a particular affection for, and that is her Mediterranean Cookbook. Not only because it is one of the regions I specialise in but also because she was the first (if I am not mistaken) to give a proper recipe for tabbouleh, as a parsley and tomato salad with very little burghul rather than a burghul or even worse, couscous salad — in those days and until much later any tabbouleh recipe had a lot more burghul in it than either herbs or tomatoes which is exactly the opposite of how it should be. I suspect it was because she got the recipe from her sister in law, Rosemary Sayigh, who lives in Beirut. For that book, Arabella launched into a daring adventure — it was the late 70’s — by driving around the northern coast of the Mediterranean with her niece, Joumana (Rosemary’s daughter) in a Volkswagen camper van she had bought for that purpose, collecting recipes along the way. The van finally broke down in Athens and Arabella carried on to Turkey by bus while Joumana returned to her mother in Beirut. In Turkey, Arabella met with a silversmith friend of hers and once her research was done, they both returned to Athens to pick up the repaired van and drive it back home. The whole adventure lasted about two months — Arabella had two young children waiting for her at home.

Another sensational cookbook of hers is A visual Feast, a collection of some of her Vogue food columns with stunning photographs by Tessa Traeger — Arabella had asked to work with Tessa from very early on in her career and their partnership produced the most wonderful collection of food writing and photography.

And of course there is her first cookbook, First Slice your Cookbook, another sensational volume, designed by her then husband, Mark Boxer, and published in 1964. It was a huge success, not only for its innovative design (the book is literally sliced in 3 parts with each representing one course) but also for her simple yet delicious recipes.

Arabella is now retired and has been for a few years but this does not take away from the fact that she has been, and still is, very influential — her grandson, chef Jackson Boxer, carries on the family tradition.

Here is her recipe for tabbouleh from her Mediterranean Cookbook, which was published in 1981:

“This Lebanese dish is like the essence of health foods; it is composed mainly of parsley, and is therefore rich in minerals and vitamin C. Burghul is a form of crushed wheat available from health food stores. It is important to get the correct grain: English cracked, kibbled or crushed wheat will not do for this salad.

In the Lebanon it is served as a first course or as part of a buffet, and small crisp lettuce leaves are often served on the side, to scoop it up with.

• 2 oz/50 g burghul

• 2 bunches spring onions, chopped

• 2 tomatoes, skinned, chopped and drained

• 3 oz/75 g parsley (1 pint/600 ml when chopped)

• 4 tablespoons chopped mint

• sea salt and black pepper

• 4 tablespoons olive oil

• 4 tablespoons lemon juice

• a few lettuce leaves

Wash the burghul and soak it for 30 minutes in cold water. Drain and squeeze dry. Put in a bowl and mix with the chopped spring onions, squeezing between the hands. Skin the tomatoes, chop and drain off the juice, then stir into the burghul. Stir in the chopped parsley and mint, and add the sea salt and black pepper. Stir in the olive oil and lemon juice. Line a bowl with lettuce leaves and pile the tabbouleh into it. Serves 4.”

ps. the photo of Arabella at the top was taken by me in her beautiful home next to a painting by her daughter in law, Kate Boxer. However, there is an absolutely wonderful one by David Bailey in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery.