Margaret Blatch

Vegetarian cookery and early restaurant work

Blatch, along with her husband, became vegetarian around 1907. For the next nine years, they dedicated their time to developing new combinations of vegetarian foods, focusing on nutrition, digestibility, flavour, and presentation. Their work was recognised with multiple awards, including three gold, six silver, and four bronze medals, as well as numerous diplomas for vegetarian cookery at the Food and Cookery Exhibitions held at the Royal Horticultural Hall. Their culinary expertise was judged by some of the world's leading chefs. In addition to their achievements in competitions, they catered to the public at Blatch's Restaurant, located at 50 Cannon Street, London, and other venues.^[7]

Eustace Miles School of Cookery and first cookbook

For four years, Blatch worked as the principle of the Eustace Miles School of Cookery and was frequently requested by her pupils to create a recipe book.^[7] In 1916, she self-published this as One Hundred and One Practical Non-Flesh Recipes.^{[c][9]: 819} This was followed by an expanded 92-page second edition in 1917, published by Longmans, Green & Co.^[9]: 823 A third edition was published in both 1917 and 1918.^[9]: 828

Pamphlets and later cookbooks

In the 1920s, Blatch published a pamphlet titled Conservative Cookery as part of the London Vegetarian Society's Humane Diet Leaflets series.^[10] This was followed by Household Non-Flesh Cookery in 1936.^[11]

Botulism inquest

In 1935, four people died after consuming nut meat brawn, with three cases attributed to botulism, prompting an inquest. Blatch, who had supervised the product's manufacture for 29 years, testified that there had never been a previous complaint. Her evidence supported the jury's verdict that there was no negligence by the manufacturers, as the germ itself was not present in the food at the time of preparation, though a toxin had developed before consumption. Experts affirmed that while botulism was a theoretical risk, British canning methods were considered safe. The coroner acknowledged the rarity of the disease and recommended additional precautions in future production.^[12]

Shearns and media coverage

In 1940, Blatch was described in the Daily Mirror as "London's famous vegetarian chef".^[13] She was quoted in the article discussing the growing demand for mock meats.^[13]

Blatch worked as the manager of the London vegetarian restaurant Shearns from 1923 to its closure in 1962. The restaurant served around 500 vegetarian meals per day, with customers including George Bernard Shaw, the Countess of Warwick, and a number of suffragettes.^[14]