Louis Diat

Louis Felix Diat (1885–1957) was a chef and culinary writer who is one of the chefs believed to have created vichyssoise soup, though other chefs in France are also credited for the same; no proof is available for any claimants' assertions.

Diat and his wife Suzanne had one child, a daughter, Suzette. Between 1916 and 1929, the family lived in New Rochelle, N.Y. Between 1929 and January 1950, they lived in a small apartment on Manhattan's Central Park West. Thereafter, Diat and his wife lived in Hartsdale, in Westchester County, N.Y.

Suzette Diat married George J. Lawrence, with whom she had two children. In an interview, Suzette Diat Lawrence described her father as "a gentle, humble man, simple in his tastes.... He enjoyed good cooking. It didn't have to be fancy as long as it was prepared well without too much seasoning and not too rich". She considered her father a patient instructor, "He would answer any question concerned with cooking. He had no secrets." Additionally, Diat "taught his family the art of using leftovers" to create new dishes.

Diat's two brothers also distinguished themselves in the culinary field. Jules Diat was a teacher. His son (Louis's nephew) was chef saucier (sauce chef) at the 1939 New York World's Fair. A participant in the French Resistance during World War II, he was killed by the Germans. Lucien Diat, younger than Louis by seventeen years, was the renowned executive chef at Plaza Athénée hotel in Paris and also the teacher of Jacques Pépin.

Born in France ... naturalized thirty years ago as an American citizen ... ardently democratic in his sympathics today ... M. Diat is one of the most famous among the clever chefs of America. He is a tall, slender, courtly man—very handsome with his iron-gray hair, heavy black brows, and dark, luminous eyes. Kindly, diffident in manner, he is nevertheless an exacting boss over the maze of kitchens, pantries and storerooms and the small army that mans them. He is also an enthusiast for American food.

Diat was born in 1885 in Bourbon-l'Archambault/Montmarault, France, where his father managed a shoe store. During the summer, when Diat and his siblings desired a cold snack, Diat's mother Annette often poured milk into leftover potato-and-leek soup (potage bonne femme).

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