Allegra McEvedy

Allegra Sarah Bazzett McEvedy MBE (born 1970) is an English chef, broadcaster and writer.

Early life

McEvedy was born and raised in Hammersmith. Her father Colin McEvedy was a consultant psychiatrist, historian and writer; her mother a writer.[1] Privately educated at St Paul's Girls' School,[2] she went to school with Observer food columnist Daisy Garnett.[1] Her mother died when she was aged 17. As a consequence of this, and the stress arising from coming out as gay, she found adjusting to adult life difficult and was expelled from school - though she nevertheless took and passed her A-levels.[1]

Career

In 1991, McEvedy completed her classical French training at the Cordon Bleu in London. She also obtained the Higher Certificate from the Wine & Spirit Education Trust.

She later worked at the Tabernacle, Notting Hill Green's, The Belvedere in Holland Park, Alfred's, The Groucho Club and The River Café. She got her first Head Chef position at Tom Conran's The Cow, in Notting Hill, at the age of 24.

During a spell in the USA, facilitated by being awarded a special visa as 'an alien with extraordinary ability in the culinary arts', McEvedy worked at Rubicon and Jardinière in San Francisco, and ran the kitchen at Robert De Niro's New York restaurant Tribeca Grill (regularly doing 500 covers a night). Whilst in New York, she catered for an exclusive Democratic Party fundraiser, personally cooking for President Clinton.

Upon returning to London, McEvedy joined The Good Cook group, initially as Head Chef of The Tabernacle, a community restaurant in Notting Hill, and later as Head Chef of The Good Cook in Kensington High Street. In Summer 2000, she set up the first outdoor café in the Zaha Hadid Pavilion at the Serpentine Gallery. From 2002–2004, she was the inaugural Chef in Residence at the Institute of Contemporary Arts. In December 2013, McEvedy opened Blackfoot, a pork-focussed restaurant in Exmouth Market, London, which was open until February 2016.

She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours for services to the hospitality industry.[3][4]

Leon

McEvedy co-founded Leon, a healthy fast-food restaurant group, with Henry Dimbleby and John Vincent. Leon opened its first outlet in Carnaby Street in 2004.[5] Six months after opening, Leon was named the "Best New Restaurant in Great Britain" at the Observer Food Monthly Awards. In March 2009 McEvedy gave up her role at Leon to focus on writing and television work, but she remains a shareholder in the business.

Writing, TV and Radio

In 2000, McEvedy published her first book, The Good Cook (Hodder), and in October 2006 published her second book, Allegra McEvedy's Colour Cookbook (Kyle Cathie). It won the International Association of Culinary Professionals 2007 Cookbook award in the Chefs and Restaurants category. In October 2008 her third book, Leon: Ingredients & Recipes (Conran Octopus), was called by Giles Coren of The Times "Without doubt, the coolest food book I have ever seen."

Since 2007, McEvedy has been Chef in Residence at The Guardian, for which she writes a weekly column and features, and contributes a monthly live, internet "cook-along".[6]

A six-part BBC2 series Economy Gastronomy presented by McEvedy and Paul Merrett began in August 2009, accompanied by a book of the same title.

In 2015 she replaced Mary Berry as one of the two judges in the BBC TV series Junior Bake Off. In 2016 she is one of the judges of BBC Radio 4 Food and Farming Awards, judging the Cook of the Year award [7]

Personal life

In August 2006, she formed a civil partnership with Susi Smithers. At the reception, Heston Blumenthal did the canapes, with the wedding cake a £1,000 tier of Neal's Yard cheeses.[1] They split in 2011, and dissolved their civil partnership in 2012. [8]

In 2014 it was reported that McEvedy and her daughter, Delilah[9] were living with McEvedy's partner, food blogger Jack Monroe, and Monroe's son in London.[10]

Charity Work

Allegra McEvedy has been a Patron of The Fairtrade Foundation since 2012 [11]

Bibliography

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Daisy Garnett (22 October 2006). "Fudge can be fun – just add cannabis". London: The Observer. Retrieved 2 November 2009.
  2. ↑ Barton, Robin (7 December 2008). "Close-up: Allegra McEvedy". The Independent (London). Archived from the original on 18 June 2009. Retrieved 31 July 2009.
  3. ↑ "Queen's Birthday Honours: Full list". The Independent (London). 13 June 2008. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
  4. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 58729. p. 20. 14 June 2008.
  5. ↑ Scott-Moncrieff, Chloe (22 January 2006). "Fast food needn't be junk food". The Independent (London). Retrieved 31 July 2009.
  6. ↑ "Allegra McEvedy's kitchen clickalong". The Guardian (London). 11 December 2009. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
  7. ↑ Meet the judges of the 2016 Food and Farming Awards. Retrieved 14 February 2016
  8. ↑ Amy Everett (3 October 2012). "Allegra McEvedy This Life Interview". London: Red. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  9. ↑ Allegra McEvedy: ‘I’d be happy never to see another f***ing cupcake in my life’Allegra McEvedy: Still cooking with Mum
  10. ↑ Lamont, Tom (19 October 2014). "OFM awards 2014 best food blog: Jack Monroe". The Guardian. The Guardian. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  11. ↑ My Secret Life: Allegra McEvedy, 41, Chef. Retrieved 14 February 2016

External links

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