María Luisa García

María Luisa García
Born	(1919-07-07)July 7, 1919 Cabojal, Turón, Mieres, Asturias
Died	October 12, 2019(2019-10-12) (aged 100) Mieres, Asturias, Spain
Occupation(s)	Chef, Cookbook author

María Luisa García Sánchez (July 7, 1919 – October 12, 2019) was a Spanish Asturian chef, cookbook author and leading expert on Asturian cuisine and the culinary traditions of Asturias. Her debut Asturian cookbook, El arte de cocinar (The Art of Cooking), first published in 1970, sold half a million copies and became ubiquitous in home kitchens throughout Asturias. It remains the best selling Asturian coobook in history. She published a second part of her landmark cookbook, El arte de cocinar (parte 2) in 1982. Her other best known works include Platos típicos de Asturias (Typical Dishes of Asturias), released in 1971, and her collaboration with other chefs on El libro de oro de la cocina española (The Golden Book of Spanish Cuisine), an eight volume encyclopedia of Spanish cuisine.

Biography

Early life

María Luisa García was born in Cabojal, Turón, a small parish in the municipality of Mieres, on July 7, 1919. Her mother, Leonor Sánchez, was a housewife who died when she was young, while her father, José Antonio García, was a worker at Fábrica de Mieres, a Spanish mining company. García was baptized in Figaredo parish in Mieres. She studied at the Colegio de las Dominicas and the Instituto de Mieres secondary school. Her early life was affected both by the death of her mother and the Spanish Civil War.

Career

Following the death of her mother, García spent years caring for her father and sisters. However, in 1957, when García was in her late 20s, she was awarded a scholarship to study at the Escuela de Especialidades Ruiz de Alda in Madrid. There, she studied the culinary arts, food art, pedagogy, dietetics, and other professional disciplines. In 1959, García returned to Mieres, where she embarked on a career as a culinary teacher and instructor. She initially began teaching at the Lloreo teleclub and La Peña in Mieres, but her classes soon expanded. By the mid-to-late 1960s, García was offering two-month long cooking courses across Asturias.

Her colleagues and students encouraged her to compile and publish her first cookbook on Asturian cuisine, which was originally conceived as an additional textbook for her cooking classes. In 1970, García published her first Asturian cookbook, El arte de cocinar (The Art of Cooking). Her cookbook, which she also edited and distributed herself, has sold more than half a million copies since 1970 and remains the best-selling Asturian cookbook in history. In 1982, García released a second volume, , El arte de cocinar (parte 2).

García released another well known cookbook, Platos típicos de Asturias (Typical Dishes of Asturias), in 1971. She also collaborated with other Spanish chefs on El libro de oro de la cocina española (The Golden Book of Spanish Cuisine), a eight volume culinary encyclopedia.

García prepared a meal for Pope John Paul II and other dignitaries during the Pope's 1989 official visit to the Principality of Asturias at the request of the Archbishop of Oviedo. Main regional dishes prepared by García for the Pope included cider sausages, Cantabrian hake and Spanish omelettes. Beef for the other dishes was sourced from cows in Cangas de Onís. Other smaller, Asturian dishes and desserts served by García for the occasion included empanada de bonito, sea urchin caviar canapés, cream cheese, stewed beef, casadiellas, buñuelos, and cabrales cheese.

During the 1990s, she taught courses and workshops at Asturian cultural centers in Argentina, Belgium, Germany and Venezuela with the support of the autonomous government.

She received several cultural and culinary awards, including the Insignia de Oro de la Hostelería de Asturias and the Grouse Award from the Asturian Center of Madrid.

María Luisa García died at her home in Mieres, Asturias, on October 12, 2019, at the age of 100. Her funeral was held at San Pedro Apóstol parish in Mieres.