As we put together this list of the most famous English chefs in the world we didn’t want to simply focus on the names that are familiar to western audiences but more importantly introduce the world to several talented English chefs that you have not heard of, yet.
There are many high-profile English chefs that have become major celebrities. Bringing their love for food and culture to our television screens every evening has become a rite of passage for chefs these days and those on this list do not disappoint.
Combining the multiple cultures from Europe and the surrounding countries has made many of these chef’s dishes into eclectic works of art.
Check out the top 10 famous English chefs here:
Chef Gordon Ramsay
Gordon Ramsay is currently one of the biggest and most influential chefs in the world. He is known for his hit television shows and his sarcastic, fiery temper.
Gordon Ramsay Restaurant Career
Chef Ramsay has several restaurants including his original, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in London, which earned three Michelin stars in 2001 and has retained them ever since. He currently holds a total of seven Michelin stars across his network of restaurants.
List of Gordon Ramsay TV Shows
Ramsay has been a hit celebrity chef on numerous television shows such as Hell’s Kitchen, Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares, MasterChef, MasterChef Junior and Hotel Hell. His unique personality and blunt approach have gained him fans worldwide. His short temper has led to many altercations on his shows and off but has made for good television.
Ramsay’s incredible cooking and culinary expertise has brought him fame and fortune despite his short fuse. Always one to make a good show of things, Ramsay has had his days on the small screen, often yelling and arguing with the cooks on his shows. Initially outspoken against vegan and vegetarians, Ramsay saw horrific conditions at pig farm and changed his tune. He now offers both vegan and vegetarian options on his menus.
Best Gordon Ramsay Books
Ramsay has authored multiple cookbooks including Gordon Ramsay’s Home Cooking: Everything You Need to Know to Make Fabulous Food, Gordon Ramsay’s Healthy, Lean & Fit: Mouthwatering Recipes to Fuel You for Life, Roasting in Hell’s Kitchen: Temper Tantrums, F Words, and the Pursuit of Perfection and Gordon’s Great Escape Southeast Asia: 100 of my favourite Southeast Asian recipes. The chef’s official site.
Chef Jamie Oliver
Jamie Oliver was born in Essex England where he grew up learning about the food business and cooking from his parent’s restaurant. Oliver left high school early to attend college and earn a degree in home economics.
Jamie Oliver Restaurant Career
He began his culinary journey as a pastry chef at the famous restaurant Neal Street run by Antonio Carluccio where he learned the art of Italian cuisine. He moved on from there, moving up to become a sous-chef at The River Café where he was picked out after being seen in a BBC documentary about the restaurant and opened up his own restaurants.
List of Jamie Oliver TV Shows
After the restaurant documentary Oliver then got his own show on BBC called The Naked Chef and wrote a hit cookbook of the same name. He moved on to host several more television programs.
Oliver started a program named Feed Me Better to help British school kids to eat healthier meals and cut down on junk food and sugars. It was so successful that the British government went on to help Oliver by pledging to help children in the same way. Oliver has had a passion for helping people, especially children, find their love for healthy food.
He later started another television series named Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution which again aimed to help youngsters eat healthier but this time in the United States, specifically Huntington, West Virginia and Los Angeles California. Over the years Oliver has won numerous awards including an Emmy award for Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution.
Best Jamie Oliver Books
Oliver has also penned several cookbooks, some of which include Happy Days With the Naked Chef, Jamie Oliver’s Great Britain: 130 of My Favorite British Recipes, from Comfort Food to New Classics, Jamie Cooks Italy and Jamie Oliver’s Comfort Food: The Ultimate Weekend Cookbook.
Chef Heston Blumenthal
Heston Blumenthal is one of Britain’s most famous chefs, having one of his restaurants voted number one in The World’s 50 Best Restaurants in 2005.
Heston Blumenthal Restaurant Career
Blumenthal’s restaurant The Fat Duck has been awarded three Michelin stars. He has been inventive with his food, making dishes that have won awards all around the world. He works with foodpairing by combining food on a molecular level and beyond just mere taste. Blumenthal’s obsession with food began when he was a teenager and ate at a Michelin three-star rated restaurant. He was so impressed by the taste and quality of the food that he immediately knew that he wanted to pursue a career in culinary arts.
Best Heston Blumenthal TV Shows
Like many other chefs, Blumenthal has starred in several television shows such as Heston Blumenthal: In Search of Perfection and How To Cook Like Heston, among others, making him a famous and a household name to those in England.
Best Heston Blumenthal Books
Some of his multiple cookbooks include In Search of Perfection: Reinventing Kitchen Class, Further Adventures in Search of Perfection: Reinventing Kitchen Classics, The Fat Duck Cookbook and Heston Blumenthal at Home.
Blumenthal has also won several awards such as Best Restaurant of the Year Award, GQ Magazine Chef of the Year, GQ Personality of the Year and Catey Awards Restaurateur of the year Award.
Chef Delia Smith
Delia Smith did not start out in the culinary business to begin with as have many on this list. She started working as a hairdresser and then in a travel agency before working in the restaurant business at the age of 21. Smith worked her way up to cook and immediately became enthralled. She became fascinated with food and cooking and soon started moving her way up the culinary ladder.
Smith began appearing on television shows on BBC in the 70s and 80s before becoming a multi-million copy selling author. Smith became a staple in British cooking and culinary arts, winning a variety of awards and was even appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire for her contributions to the television and culinary worlds. She has become so famous in Britain that people had theorized that grocery items would sell out once she showcased a new recipe because everyone wanted to make it.
Best Delia Smith Books
Smith has penned an array of cookbooks including Delia Smith’s Complete Illustrated Cookery Course, Delia Smith’s Christmas: 130 Recipes for Christmas, Delia’s Vegetarian Collection: Over 250 Recipes and Delia’s Complete How To Cook: Both a guide for beginners and a tried & tested recipe collection for life.
Chef James Martin
James Martin started out working for the three Michelin star rated restaurant Maison Troisgros after graduating from culinary college. He honed his skills as moved on between restaurants, many of which were Michelin star rated.
Best James Martin TV Shows
Chef Martin began his television career in 1996 with James Martin: Yorkshire’s Finest. He was the host of many shows and made several guest appearances including Saturday Kitchen and Saturday Morning with James Martin. Martin has opened restaurants The Leeds Kitchen, James Martin Manchester and James Martin Kitchen to much fanfare and critical acclaim.
Best James Martin Books
James Martin also wrote the cookbooks James Martin’s Great British Adventure: A celebration of Great British food, with 80 fabulous recipes, Yes Chef!: 20 Great British Chefs, 100 Great British Recipes, The Great British Village Show Cookbook and James Martin’s Great British Winter Cookbook just to name a few. His cookbooks have become famous in their own right for the sheer volume that he has produced.
Chef Jason Atherton
Jason Atherton was an executive chef at one of Gordon Ramsay’s restaurants before opening his own restaurant Pollen Street Social which immediately gained a Michelin star the same year.
His tenure working for Ramsay shaped the way he looked at food and cooking for the rest of his career. The restaurant has been on many top 10 lists since it opened and has won several awards.
He has hosted Saturday Kitchen with James Martin and has also been on the television shows Great British Menu and My Kitchen Rules. Atherton’s awards include Chef of the Year from GQ Magazine, Restaurateur of the Year and Chef Award at The Catey Awards and London’s Outstanding Chef to name a few.
Best Jason Atherton Books
He has penned many cookbooks including Pollen Street: By chef Jason Atherton, Social Sweets and Social Suppers.
Chef Tom Aikens
Tom Aikens was born in London England, but his family moved around Europe and France, revealing the wonderful foods of the regions to young Aikens. His family was in the wine business when Aiken went to culinary school.
Chef Aikens started out at a restaurant in London that had Michelin star ratings and moved around to perfect his talents at other high rated restaurants. He worked under many high-profile chefs, learning to find his unique culinary style.
Aikens travels around to different countries and helped shape how he thought about food and prepared his dishes, allowing him to branch out from the norm. His culinary conquests brought him fame through television as well. Aiken appeared in Iron Chef UK and Great Chefs Of The World bringing his food worldwide fame.
Tom Aikens Books
His cookbooks include Tom Aikens Cooking and Tom Aikens: Easy.
Chef Marco Pierre White
Marco Pierre White trained as a chef after leaving high school before he graduated. He was able to obtain jobs at restaurants and work on his culinary skills.
Chef White trained under Pierre Koffman and later with Nico Lendenis. Eventually he opened his own restaurant named Harveys where he earned his first two Michelin stars within the first two years of the restaurant’s opening.
In 1994 White became the youngest chef to ever be awarded three Michelin stars at the time at the age of 32. White had a temper when it came to running his kitchen, and even made the likes of Gordon Ramsay cry during an argument when Ramsay worked for him. Ramsay has said that some of his traits in the kitchen have come from working with White.
White also appeared on a number of television shows including Hell’s Kitchen, Hell’s Kitchen Australia and The Chopping Block. White also penned the cookbooks The Devil in the Kitchen: Sex, Pain, Madness, and the Making of a Great Chef and Marco Pierre White in Hell’s Kitchen.
Chef Michel Roux Jr.
Michel Roux Jr. was born in Kent, England and began his career working under his father and uncle learning all aspects of cooking and culinary arts. He later went on to work in restaurants in France and learn a new mode of cooking. His dishes have become a mix of these two cultures and have served him well.
Chef Roux Jr. has appeared in several television shows including Hell’s Kitchen with his Friend Gordon Ramsay, MasterChef: The Professionals, Food and Drink and The Chef’s Protégé. Being on TV brought Roux Jr. to the forefront of the culinary world and made him more of a household name.
Best Michel Roux Jr. Books
He has authored several cookbooks including The French Revolution: 140 Classic Recipes made Fresh & Simple, Cooking with the MasterChef: Food for Your Family & Friends, The Marathon Chef: Food for Getting Fit, The French Kitchen: 200 Recipes from the Master of French Cooking and A Life in the Kitchen: Recipes and Reminiscences from a Master Chef.
Chef Michael Caines
Michael Caines is the executive chef of the Lympstone Manor. He grew up in Exeter England and attended a culinary college there in the city. From there he worked at the Grosvenor House Hotel and eventually moved on to other restaurants that helped perfect his skills including a stint in Paris France.
Chef Caines has worked at many successful restaurants including Gidleigh Park which earned two Michelin stars during his tenure there.
He has won several awards and accolades including Chef of the Year at The Catey Awards and was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire. Caines has obtained all this despite losing his right arm in a car accident early in his culinary career. He also wrote the cookbook Michael Caines At Home.
Who are your favorite English chefs?
These famous English chefs have dedicated their careers to bringing their culinary creations to life. Many have been brought to life through their celebrity status on our televisions and through the books and cookbooks they have written. Their dishes have been innovative and ground-breaking to say the least, which is how they ended up on this list.
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