Muscatine, Doris 1926-2006
(Doris Corn Muscatine)

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born January 14, 1926, in New York, NY; died of complications following a fall, March 25, 2006, in Berkeley, CA. Critic, businessperson, and author. Muscatine was a prominent food and wine critic who helped popularize California's wine industry during its early years. She earned a B.A. from Bennington College in 1947 before marrying and moving to California. She worked for the Democratic Party in the late 1950s, and in the early 1960s attended the prestigious Cordon Bleu in Paris. Gaining a solid knowledge of cooking, she began to write about food and wine in northern California, contributing to magazines and releasing her first book, A Cook's Tour of San Francisco: The Best Restaurants and Their Recipes (1963; revised edition, 1969). Among other publications, she was coeditor ofThe University of California/Sotheby Book of California Wine (1984), which was credited as the book that brought California wines to the world's attention. A fan of other cuisines as well, Muscatine traveled to Italy and published two books about its foods: A Cook's Tour of Rome (1964) and The Vinegar of Spilamberto and Other Italian Adventures with Food, Places, and People (2005), the latter a sort of combination travelogue, memoir, and cookbook. Also appearing on television, she hosted a number of cooking programs and was a consultant to a 1999 PBS series on San Franciscan cuisine. In addition to her books on food, Muscatine was the author of a history book of San Francisco titled Old San Francisco: The Biography of a City from Early Days to the Earthquake (1975).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Los Angeles Times, March 31, 2006, p. B10.

New York Times, March 30, 2006, p. A24.