Lorraine Pascale

Lorraine Pascale
Born (1972-11-17) 17 November 1972
London, England
Nationality British
Occupation Television presenter, publisher, cook, model
Years active 1989–present
Height 5 ft 10.5 in (1.79 m)
Television Baking Made Easy
Lorraine's Last Minute Christmas
Home Cooking Made Easy
Lorraine's Fast, Fresh & Easy Food
My Kitchen Rules
How To Be a Better Cook
Spouse(s) Count Kaz Balinski-Jundzill (m. 1995–2011; divorced)
Children Ella (b. 1996)
Website Official website

Lorraine Pascale (born 17 November 1972) is a British television cook and former model, best known for selling almost one million books in the UK alone. She has presented three television series for the BBC and has opened her own retail outlet in London selling baked goods.

Family

Pascale was born to West Indian (Caribbean) parents[1] in Hackney at The Mothers' Hospital and was fostered shortly after she was born.[2] She was adopted at 18 months old and brought up in Oxfordshire by a white family. When her adoptive parents divorced when she was three years old, Pascale remained with her mother, who subsequently became ill. At this point, at age seven, she was fostered to more than one family, with differing degrees of 'fit'. Eventually she returned to her mother. She won a full scholarship given by the Buttle Trust and so was educated at a boarding school in Devon.[1]

Pascale has an elder adoptive brother and a half-sister (her adoptive father had a daughter after the divorce). She knows her biological parents' identity and their four other children, but she does not wish to re-establish contact.[1]

Pascale married Polish musician Count Kaz Balinski-Jundzill in 1995 and the couple had a daughter, Ella, in 1996. The couple separated in 2000 and subsequently divorced.[1][3]

Career

At age 16, Pascale was spotted as potential model by the agent who had found Naomi Campbell.[4] Based in New York, she achieved recognition as the first black British model to appear on the cover of American Elle.[5] She appeared in the 1998 Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue,[6] and featured as one of the 'Bond Girls' in Robbie Williams "Millennium" video.[7]

Pascale recognised the need to ensure her future after modelling and embarked on a series of career "try-outs", including hypnotherapy and car mechanics. She took a diploma cookery course at Leith's School of Food and Wine in 2005 and found that cookery fitted her "like a pair of old jeans". After gaining her diploma, she did a series of 'stages' in some London restaurants but, realising that restaurant hours would not suit her, Pascale established herself as a specialist cakemaker, with a contract with Selfridges. Her introduction to Selfridges was at the suggestion of chef Marco Pierre White and in 2008 and 2010 she supplied the London store with over 1000 Christmas cakes. Pascale has opened her own shop, Ella's Bakehouse, in Covent Garden. She also studied Culinary Arts at Thames Valley University (now University of West London) and in March 2012 graduated with a first class degree.[5][8]

In 2015 Pascale said she practises Transcendental Meditation to relax after work.[9]

Television and publishing work

In January 2011, Pascale presented a television bakery programme in 2011, Baking Made Easy, on BBC television[5] and published a bakery book based upon this series. Later that year, a second series, Home Cooking Made Easy, was broadcast in September and October, with an accompanying book. A Last Minute Christmas programme aired on BBC Two on 22 December 2011. A third book was published in 2012 and a series based upon it, called Fast, Fresh & Easy Food, aired in August and September 2012 on BBC Two.

Since January 2014, Pascale co-presents and judges the UK version of My Kitchen Rules with Jason Atherton on Sky Living. In early 2014, it was announced that Pascale was to host a new six-part television series called Lorraine Pascale: How to be a Better Cook that would air later in the year on BBC Two.[10] In March 2015, she co-hosted The Nation's Favourite Food alongside the Hairy Bikers. The show aired for one episode on BBC Two.

Charity

Pascale is the patron of TACT, the UK's largest fostering and adoption charity, and an ambassador of both the charities Rays of Sunshine and The Prince's Trust. In summer 2012, she was made the ambassador of the National Careers Service launching the service with Skills Minister John Hayes.[11]

Bibliography

Pascale has published a number of books, including:

Filmography

Year Title Episodes
2011 Home Cooking Made Easy
  1. "Comfort" (26 September 2011)
  2. "Favourites" (3 October 2011)
  3. "Entertaining" (10 October 2011)
  4. "Simple" (17 October 2011)
Baking Made Easy
  1. "So Easy" (10 January 2011)
  2. "Speed Baking" (17 January 2011)
  3. "Modern Classics" (24 January 2011)
  4. "Very Entertaining" (31 January 2011)
  5. "Bake to Impress" (7 February 2011)
  6. "Time to Bake" (14 February 2011)
Lorraine's Last Minute Christmas
  1. TX 22 December 2011
2012 Lorraine's Fast, Fresh & Easy Food
  1. "Easy Entertaining" (13 August 2012)
  2. "Feel Good Food" (20 August 2012)
  3. "Simple Classics" (27 August 2012)
  4. "Baking It" (3 September 2012)
  5. "Posh Nosh" (10 September 2012)
  6. "Easy Everyday" (17 September 2012)
2014 My Kitchen Rules
Fostering & Me with Lorraine Pascale
  1. TX 19 June 2014
Lorraine Pascale: How to be a Better Cook
  1. "Tony Sartori" (12 September 2014)
  2. "Bryony Crutcher" (19 September 2014)
  3. "Sonia Harwood" (26 September 2014)
  4. "Neil Forster" (3 October 2014)
  5. "Travis Francis" (10 October 2014)
  6. "Sally Mack" (17 October 2014)
2015 The Hairy Bikers and Lorraine Pascale: Cooking the Nation's Favourite Food
  1. TX 17 March 2015

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 McGrath, Nick (22 January 2011). "Lorraine Pascale: My family values". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 January 2011.
  2. ↑ Fostering and Me with Lorraine Pascale. BBC documentary. (Shown on BBC2 on 19 June 2014.)
  3. ↑ Dunbar, Polly (14 February 2011). "From the catwalk to TV's Queen of Cakes: Lorraine Pascale tells her inspiring story". Daily Mail. Retrieved 8 October 2013.
  4. ↑ "Lorraine Pascale". Fashion Model Directory. 2 January 2011. Retrieved 22 January 2011.
  5. 1 2 3 Cooke, Rachel (2 January 2011). "Lorraine Pascale: 'I absolutely eat what I cook'". The Observer. Retrieved 22 January 2011.
  6. ↑ "Swimsuit collection – Lorraine Pascale". Sports Illustrated. Time Warner. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
  7. ↑ Baking hot with new BBC chef, Lorraine Pascale
  8. ↑ Vernon, Polly (24 May 2009). "The model baker". The Observer. Retrieved 22 January 2011.
  9. ↑ "Fitspiration – Lorraine Pascale". Hip & Healthy. 5 March 2015. Retrieved 28 August 2015. To unwind after a busy day I practise transcendental meditation which I do morning and evening for 20 minutes each time. ... The meditation keeps me grounded, learn to be honest with myself, and only do the things which I feel will make me happy.
  10. ↑ "Lorraine Pascale gives novice cooks a helping hand in BBC Two factual series". ATV Today. 7 April 2014.
  11. ↑ "TV Chef Lorraine Pascale and Minister John Hayes launch National Careers Service".

External links


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