Rosalind Franklin at the table

The British rhythm of the 1940s-50s marks the day in four stages: a light breakfast, a frugal lunch taken at the lab, the sacred afternoon tea, then a more substantial dinner in the evening. Rosalind grafts onto this what she learned during her years in Paris (1947-1950): a taste for French stewed dishes and real pastry, which she served to her friends at dinners she loved to host.

Two opposing markers of her life: Marmite yeast extract, salty and fermented, emblem of the English larder of her childhood; and French farm butter, which she discovered in Paris and transformed her way of cooking. Her whole repertoire oscillates between these two poles, British austerity and Parisian indulgence.