About Philippa

I am a chef, food writer and television presenter.

I grew up in Dorset, England with my extended family on a small farm. We reared our own meat, grew all our own fruit and vegetables, baked fresh bread and made our own yoghurt. We also had a go at making our own wine, though sadly with varied results…

At 14 I took a Saturday job in a local café run by two inspiring women, one of whom was also an opera singer and prone to bursting into Italian arias when things got frantic. The kitchen was madly busy, incredibly hot and exciting… I was hooked.

When I was 19 I moved to London to pursue my career in cooking.  During my 9 years in the ‘Big Smoke’ I worked at Lidgate Butchers, The River Café (1 Michelin star ) and Moro before moving on to set up and run Mudchute Kitchen, a café and event space on London’s largest city farm.

Keen to combine my love for cooking with my interest in travel, in 2010 I made the transition into becoming a private chef. My first job started off being flown down to a Mediterranean island to cook for a small group in their private seaside villa.

I remember my excitement at being able to buy so much incredible local produce and talk to the producers at the local markets. I loved working with the host to make a fun and relaxed few days and creating a kitchen environment where everyone was happy to wander in to watch and chat while I whipped up cocktails and prepared a feast.

Since becoming a private chef I have cooked for an exciting range of occasions and events across the world including birthday parties in the Tuscan hills, bike ride weekends in the Pyrenees, fancy river bank picnics in the Highlands, private boot camps in the Caribbean and carnival themed parties in Singapore.

Travelling extensively around the world I have discovered not only incredible markets and local specialties but also a long list of fabulous places to eat from casual street food shacks to Michelin starred restaurants.

 

I write for various magazines, books and websites including BBC Food, House & Garden, The Field magazine and Deepest Books. I am an active member of the Guild of Food Writers: http://www.gfw.co.uk.

In 2021 I made my TV debut as the expert food judge on Channel 4’s ‘Beat The Chef’. Since then I have also appeared as the taste expert for serveral  Channel 5 documentaries. In 2024 my 6 part series ‘A Taste of Dorset’ was released on Amazon Prime Video  which champions the incredible local food and drink producers of the area. 

I am a judge for the Great Taste Awards and the Academy of Chocolate and am an adviser and ambassador for Liberty Kitchen, a street food project run from Pentonville Prison which is set up to help reduce reoffending rates.

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