Who edited the 1935 book Recipes of All Nations, an early English-language reference to pho?

Countess Morphy edited the 1935 book Recipes of All Nations, an early English-language reference to pho.

Countess Morphy was the pen name of Marcelle Azra Hincks, a British food writer, cookery demonstrator, and dance critic who became known for writing about international cuisine. Her 1935 cookbook was a large survey of dishes from many countries, organized to introduce global cooking to English-speaking home cooks.

Recipes of All Nations was unusually broad for its time: it covered national and regional cuisines, included introductions to different food traditions, and emphasized recipes that ordinary households could prepare. Its treatment of Vietnamese food is historically notable because English-language references to pho were still rare in the 1930s. The book therefore appears in discussions of pho’s early documentation outside Vietnam.

The name can cause confusion because “Countess Morphy” sounds like a hereditary title. It was a professional pen name, not the name of a Vietnamese chef or aristocratic editor. Gustave Hue and Nguyễn Công Hoan are associated with other Vietnamese cultural or literary contexts, while Erica J. Peters is a modern food historian rather than the book’s editor.