Sophie Michell

Sophie Michell has been passionate about cooking since she was a child and started working in professional kitchens at the tender age of 14. After qualifying as a chef, Sophie worked in London's The Greenhouse, The Lanesborough, and The Embassy. She was nominated for the Young Chef of the Year Award by The Craft Guild of Chefs when she was just 19. Sophie worked as family chef for supermodel Claudia Schiffer for two years; she then went on to appear in various cookery programmes and wrote her first cookbook, Irresistible. Later, she went back to the kitchen as executive chef for London catering company, Salt and Pepper Food Design. She also does consultancy work.

Silvena Rowe

Silvena Rowe was born and raised in Bulgaria, but has lived in London since 1986. She is the executive chef for the Baltic Restaurant Group, which includes the London restaurants Baltic, Wodka and Chez Kristoff. A regular guest on the BBC's Saturday Kitchen, Silvena is also known for her cookery demonstrations, having worked as a cookery teacher at Mosimann’s Academy of Culinary Excellence, Baker and Spice, and Books for Cooks, all in London. Silvena also works as food consultant and recipe developer for a major British food retailer and was food consultant and designer for David Cronenberg's London-based film, Eastern Promises.

Shaun Rankin

Shaun Rankin (born 1972, County Durham) is the Michelin-starred chef of the Bohemia restaurant in St Helier, Jersey. Rankin has said that he always wanted to be a chef, and set out to become one at the age of 14. He learned the trade at The Mayfair hotel in London as an apprentice, as well as attending the Thames Valley University at Slough as a day release student.
He returned to Yorkshire in 1992, after three years in London, and took a position as chef de partie at the Black Bull Inn in Moulton, North Yorkshire. Since then he has worked in restaurants as close to home as Darlington and as far afield as Chicago and Australia. 2010 saw the launch of the 'SR' brand across major retailers. Rankin's first book, Seasoned Islands, was released by The Refinery on 14th November 2010; concurrently, a television series, Seasoned Islands, was produced by Channel TV and released on DVD.

Silvana Franco

Silvana Franco was born into a large Italian family and raised in Derby. She trained as a chef at High Peak College in Buxton and then did a degree in home economy. After a college work placement writing for BBC Vegetarian Good Food magazine, Silvana worked her way up to become a senior writer at Good Food. She later worked as Food Editor for M&S Magazine before moving into TV. Silvana started as a food stylist on Ainsley Harriot's shows, but her engaging personality soon attracted television producers and she eventually became a presenter. Silvana also runs food media company Fork with two former work colleagues and is the author of several cookery books.

Sophie Dahl

Sophie Dahl grew up in the midst of a greedy extended family, whose members all loved to cook and eat. Despite building a successful modelling career, Sophie eventually left the catwalk and instead followed in her grandfather Roald’s footsteps and dedicated herself to writing.
After the success of both a novella and a full-length novel, Sophie published her first cookery book, Miss Dahl’s Voluptuous Delights, in 2009. The recipes were inspired by Sophie’s childhood memories and the travelling she did as a model. Some of the book’s recipes were brought to the screen for BBC2’s The Delicious Miss Dahl, broadcast the following year. Sophie lives in London and is a regular contributor to both fashion and food magazines.

Scott Conant

One of New York’s most beloved and respected chefs, Scott Conant brings a deft touch and unwavering passion to creating food that is unexpected and soulful. After 15 years of cooking some of the city’s favorite Italian cuisine, he opened Scarpetta in New York in 2008. Scarpetta received rave critical reviews, an enthusiastic following and established Conant as one of the country’s preeminent Italian chefs.
Conant’s love of cooking began at an early age. Growing up in an Italian-American household, he began taking cooking classes at age 11 and later attended the Culinary Institute of America (CIA). After graduation, he studied pastry for a year at the Hotel Bayerischer Hof in Munich, Germany. He returned to New York City to work as a sous chef at The New York Times three-star rated San Domenico, a famed Italian restaurant where Conant externed as a culinary student.

Simon Rimmer

Simon Rimmer (born 5 May 1963) is the resident chef on BBC2's Something for the Weekend, which first aired on Sunday 8 October 2006, and is also the face of cooking video website, Eat The Chef. Simon Rimmer became known for the innovative vegetarian food of his Manchester restaurant Greens, which opened in 1990. He went on to open Earle, a modern brasserie in Cheshire, in 2006, with business partners including his wife, friends, footballer Jason McAteer and football agent Dave Lockwood.
Simon's television career began on lifestyle channel Granada Breeze. He has since appeared in and presented many BBC programmes but is probably most famous as the face of Something for the Weekend. Simon has a degree in fashion and textile design, and, when not busy with cooking and television, continues to freelance as a textile designer and ceramic decorator.

Sandra Lee

Sandra Lee (born Sandra Lee Christiansen on July 3, 1966) has a passion for simple solutions that create dramatic results in all areas of home life. She is editor-in-chief of Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade magazine, the host of two highly rated television shows on Food Network (the multi-Emmy-nominated Semi-Homemade Cooking With Sandra Lee and Sandra’s Money Saving Meals) and the host of Sandra Lee Celebrates, a series of primetime specials on HGTV. Sandra Lee is also a New York Times bestselling author with 23 books to her credit including the 2011 spring release of the Sandra Lee Bake Sale Cookbook.