These are 5 famous personalities (and facts about them) who followed their passion for cooking and went on to becoming very well known in the world of culinary.
2. 1. Heston Blumenthal
Heston Blumenthal is a name recognized around the world as one of the driving forces
in The Avant Garde Food Movement.
After finishing school at age 18, Blumenthal spent a brief period at Raymond Blanc's Le Manoir, but it would
take another 10 years working in a "relatively undemanding series of jobs from credit controller to repo
man" during the day, and studying the French Classics by night, before his culinary epiphany.
3. Facts about Heston
Heston is a self-taught English chef
renowned for his experimental and
scientific approach to Cooking
and Gastronomy
He holds multiple Honorary Degrees
in Recognition of his scientific approach
to Cooking!
He is the Head Chef of The Fat Duck,
a Three Michelin-Starred Restaurant
voted The Best Restaurant in The World
in 2005 and The Best Restaurant in The
UK for a number of years
Since then, it has been awarded 2nd
place in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009, 3rd
in 2010 and 5th in 2011, and 12th in
2012
4. 2. Cristina Bowerman
Born in Puglia, South Italy, Chef Cristina Bowerman is not the typical Italian woman, nor the typical Italian
chef. Instead of hewing to merely traditional Italian dishes, she found it much more interesting to innovate
her native cuisine using outside influences.
Starting out as a Law Graduate, cooking also came later in life to Italian Chef Cristina Bowerman. Her
turning point came after seeing a TV interview with Elena Arzak, in which she spoke of her studies at the
Cordon Bleu Cookery School which inspired Cristina to do just the same and enroll, and it all went from
there. It wouldn't be until 2006, and her 30s, that she started her fledgling career at the Glass Hostaria in
Rome, where she was to make her name.
5. Facts about Cristina
Cristina Bowerman, one of the few
Italian women chef awarded a Michelin
star and other prestigious awards
She graduated in Law in the year
1992 and alternated forensic studies
and graphic design to working at
Higher Grounds
In 2008 she received ‘two forks’ in The
Gambero Rosso Guide and in 2010 she
was awarded a Michelin star - the only
female chef to receive one that year.
In 2013 she was awarded the prize
“Woman Chef of the Year” - Identità
Golose 2013
In May 2017 Cristina Bowerman was
awarded the “Non omnia possumus
omnes”, 9th edition National Literary
Prize Nicola Zingarelli
6. 3. Martha Stewart
Martha Stewart is an American media mogul best known for her television show and magazine, Martha
Stewart Living.
Martha Stewart wasn't always the "lifestyle guru" that she has become so well known for. In fact, it wasn't
until 32 years of age that she would trade in her job as a stockbroker, starting a catering company at the
age of 40 with Cookbooks and a TV career to follow. These days the septuagenarian can be found with
Snoop Doog on Potluck Dinner Party.
7. Facts about Martha
Martha Stewart is America's first self-
made female billionaire!
She worked as a model throughout
college to pay for tuition
Martha Stewart's company, Martha
Stewart Living Omnimedia, has been
recognized for 18 Emmy Awards since
its inception in 1997
Martha Stewart's Cooking School won
the James Beard Award for
Outstanding Series
Entertaining was the first of 77 books,
many of which are bestsellers,
including Martha Stewart’s Baking
Handbook, Martha Stewart’s
Homekeeping Handbook and Martha
Stewart’s Cooking School
8. 4. Julia Child
TV Chef and Author Julia Child became a 'household name' via the groundbreaking cookbook - Mastering
the Art of French Cooking and her popular show - The French Chef.
Julia Child took to the kitchen aged 36 after falling in love with The French Cuisine. However, it wasn't until
she was 49 that her Mastering the Art of French Cooking Cookbook was published, followed by a
subsequent further three decades as a US TV star. Not bad for a professional who actually started out as a
copywriter in the advertising industry before a brief stint working for the intelligence services.
9. Facts about Julia
Upon graduation, Child moved to
New York, where she worked in the
advertising department of the
prestigious home furnishings
company W. & J. Sloane
In 1941, at the onset of World War II,
Julia moved to Washington, D.C.,
where she volunteered as
a Research Assistant for the Office
of Strategic Services (OSS), a newly
formed government intelligence
agency
Early in her television career, Julia
received the prestigious George
Foster Peabody Award in 1965,
followed by an Emmy Award in 1966
In 1993, she was rewarded for her
work when she
became The First Woman Inducted
into The Culinary Institute Hall of
Fame
In November 2000, following a 40-
year career that made her name
synonymous with fine food and
gave her a permanent place among
the world's most famous chefs
10. 5. Mikael Jonsson
Jonsson, a born Swede and a trained Lawyer, runs one of The Top Restaurants in The World – Hedone in West
London. Becoming one of the best chefs in the world has been a challenging road for Jonsson as he suffers from
severe food allergies and only managed to control his afflictions and pursue his dream of running a restaurant
after switching to a Paleo Diet.
Aged 44, it started to really grind in the back of his head that he should take his home-cooking skills and see how
good he could become as a chef. "I had always believed that, if you’re able to be creative with the stuff you love,
real happiness follows," he told The Guardian. His ingredient-led French Style Cooking at his Hedone Restaurant
in London is a testament to just that.
11. Facts about Mikael
Swedish-born Mikael Jonsson started
his Culinary Career as a Food Blogger,
dining at hundreds of
Michelin Starred Restaurants around
the globe
He is one, of three self-taught chefs
based in Britain who have risen to run
some of the world’s best restaurants!
Just a year after opening Hedone, he
was honored with a Michelin Star and
has since won rave reviews and
received the seal of approval from Elite
Traveler’s restaurant critic, Andy Hayler
National Restaurant Award: One to
Watch and Top 100 Best Restaurants in
the World are the awards he received
Mikael's food obsession goes back
some way. Jonsson grew up in the south
of Sweden, on the west coast and in
Gothenburg. His grandmother was a
fantastic cook and he treated the
kitchen as his playroom. His precocity
had him develop an interest in wine and
start his own collection well before he
was of a legal age to drink it. He was
baking his own bread before he was
ten.