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Clarissa Dickson Wright, the television chef who, with Jennifer Paterson, rose to worldwide fame as one of television’s Two Fat Ladies, has died at the age of 66.
According to the Telegraph, Dickson died this past Saturday at Edinburgh’s Royal Infirmary after being ill since the beginning of the year.
Long before Anthony Bourdain traveled the world in search of a meal and Paula Deen televised her love affair with butter, Dickson Wright and Paterson roamed the United Kingdom on a Triumph motorcycle, with Paterson driving and Dickson Wright riding shotgun in a sidecar.
An unlikely television duo, the two plump, middle-aged ladies cooked on the BBC — along with Food Network and Cooking Channel in the U.S.– for four seasons.
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True to the name of the show, the women showed no concern for preparing calorie-laden foods or smoking cigarettes. Paterson, who died in 1999, would also end the shows with a cocktail in hand. Dickson Wright abstained from booze.
Part Julia Child, part Paula Deen, and part Anthony Bourdain, Dickson Wright was cheeky and lovable on camera. She and her onscreen partner lived life to the fullest. If you aren’t familiar with their work, watch some of these clips. The Two Fat Ladies are truly pioneers of culinary television.
Here are the Two Fat Ladies making a Brazilian cocktail:
Preparing lard (wrapped in bacon):
Talking about how vegetarians get “randy” when they eat lentils:
And singing a Christmas carol:
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