Éliane Thibaut-Comelade

Biography She was born in Rigarda, and her parents were both teachers. She studied initially in Montpellier, Toulouse, and later in Paris, at the école normale nationale d'apprentissage, specializing thereafter in food hygiene. She initially taught in middle and high schools, writing technical manuals on food science, and drew from traditional Catalan cuisines to use as examples in her texts. Her publisher, noting Thibaut-Comelade's interest in Catalan food, invited to write a book on the subject, resulting in the publication of her first book on food history and recipes, De la Costa Brava al Canigó (1960).

Thibaut-Comelade died in Perpignan on 6 April 2021, at the age of 92. Her husband, Pierre Comelade, was a psychiatrist, and her son, Pascal Comelade, is a musician and composer.