Catherine Brown

Catherine Brown (1941―2024) was a Scottish food writer, who wrote on the cooking of Scotland and its history in books, newspapers and magazines.

Early life and career Catherine Brown was born Catherine Grace Braithwaite in Glasgow on 20 August 1941 to Barclay Braithwaite, a civil engineer, and Catherine Braithwaite. She was raised in the city's Dennistoun district in a small tenement, attending Hutchesons' Grammar School. From her mother and maternal grandmother, Brown learned to cook, and at age 16 took on a job at a canteen on the River Clyde, serving breakfast fare to dockworkers.

Following Hutchesons', Brown attended the Glasgow and West of Scotland College of Domestic Science (now merged into Glasgow Caledonian University), before beginning a series of jobs as a cooking instructor and chef, including a stint at the Loch Torridon Hotel. In 2009, Brown's identification of haggis as English in origin gained attention in the press, and was described in her obituary in The Times as starting a "nationwide debate".

Personal life and death Catherine Braithwaite became Catherine Brown through her marriage to Iain Brown. Together, they had had at least two daughters, and when they divorced, she kept the name Brown. Influenced by her time working on Loch Torridon, she purchased a house there, and split her time in her last few years between there and a place on the Isle of Arran. She died on 28 November 2024, after living with dementia for several years.