The renowned food critic, Egon Ronay, who had been ill for some weeks, died on Saturday at his home in Berkshire. His wife & two daughters were with him.

A man whose name was synonymous with the radical improvement in the standard of British food, Ronay was Hungarian - born in Budapest - who came to live in Britain in nineteen forty six after the second world war.

Ronay’s grandfather had inherited a restaurant & Ronay grew up living above one of a chain of five prestigious restaurants owned by his father. After studying for a law degree, he trained in the kitchens of the family business & also abroad. Following the Russian occupation towards the end of the second world war, the family estate & business were lost & Ronay found himself in London managing the restaurants of a family friend.

Living in Britain Ronay was appalled by the treatment of food, “The first thing I discovered was that public school food was abominable and its victims were taught to be uncomplaining. And the product of that system was the British customer. They had no taste for food and the restaurateur had no audience to play to. His customer was an object of contempt. And British food got the reputation it deserved.”

With the help of a loan, Ronay bought a teashop near Harrods in 1952, converting it to a thirty nine seat restaurant serving a high standard of French cuisine, which quickly came to the notice of reviewers & critics of the time, notably Fanny Cradock the very first ‘TV celebrity chef’.

Ronay was encouraged to write a food column for the Daily Telegraph & in 1957 went on to produce his own hugely popular ‘Egon Ronay Guide’. Not seen to be particularly entertaining in themselves, a mention in the guide was a mark of distinction, much desired by any discerning establishment. Entries were impartial & Ronay prided himself on his integrity. Meals were eaten anonymously - booking being made under an assumed name - & he never accepted so much as a glass of brandy without paying for it. He saw the guides as a means “of telling people that they could no longer get away with murder – because I would expose them”.

However, Ronay played down the impact of his guides, recognizing the influence of Elizabeth David on the culinary awareness of the British public, & pointing to the arrival of a new class of wealthy people in the sixties: “pop stars, advertising people, photographers and so on”,  whose

love of eating out led to food becoming a popular topic of conversation on its own merit.

Among the many who paid tribute to Ronay on news of his death, Marco Pierre White said, “It’s hard to express in words what he actually did. He, without doubt, was the most important individual in the restaurant world. He did more for gastronomy in Britain than any institution or individual. He made us all dream, he made us all want stars, he made us all work harder and created excitement – he was an extraordinary individual. Today is a very sad day for the hotel and restaurant world.”