Madeleine Kamman, who "established a reputation as a strong-willed teacher of traditional French cuisine for modern tastes and an influential chef whose cooking was deeply informed by her knowledge of food chemistry, botany, history and geography," died July 16, the New York Times reported. She was 87.
Kamman "was not yet a renowned French chef and teacher in the spring of 1968 when she read a newspaper recipe for snails provençale on toast" by Craig Claiborne. She wrote him a letter criticizing the recipe and "impressed him with a different snail recipe and memories of cooking in France," the Times wrote. Claiborne subsequently visited her at her home near Philadelphia and write about her.
Claiborne's recognition led her to write The Making of a Cook (1971). She later published When French Women Cook (1976) and several other books. From 1984 to 1991, she had her own PBS series.
"She had an incredible capacity to inspire people--she was very honest with us--but the gifts she gave us were incredible," said Joanne Weir, a former student and cooking teacher who is an owner of Copita, a Mexican restaurant in Sausalito, Calif.