Silvena Rowe
Silvena Rowe (née Lauta, born in Plovdiv, Bulgaria) is a British chef, food writer, television personality and restaurateur.[1]
Biography
Rowe was born in Plovdiv to a Bulgarian mother and a Turkish father.[2] Rowe's father, who was a newspaper editor of the largest Bulgarian newspaper, Bulgarianised his name due to Bulgaria's communist government.[3] He instilled in Rowe a love of cooking and passed down the traditions of the Ottoman cuisine.[4] At the age of 19, she moved to London.[1][5] Silvena cooked in the kitchen of the Notting Hill bookshop Books for Cooks, which led her to cook for Princess Michael of Kent, Ruby Wax and Tina Turner.[1] She also met Malcolm Gluck and the two began to write a regular food column for The Guardian newspaper.[1] In 2007, she was the food consultant on David Cronenberg’s 2007 film Eastern Promises.[1] She has become a regular guest on the BBC's Saturday Kitchen and ITV's This Morning. In 2007, her book Feasts won the Glenfiddich Food and Drink Award.[4] After her father's death she wanted to rediscover her heritage so she travelled through Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan tracing her Ottoman roots; this resulted in her cookbook Purple Citrus and Sweet Perfume.[2]
On 7 June 2011, her restaurant Quince opened at The May Fair Hotel in Mayfair, London.[6][7] Her restaurant is influenced by her Turkish heritage- homage to her grandfather Mehmed, who used to cook the dishes for her father.[8] Currently Silvena shares her time between Dubai, Sofia, New York and London.
Silvena Rowe is also a Charlton Athletic Supporter.
Awards
- 2007: Glenfiddich Food and Drink Award-London
- 2011: Gourmand Award - Paris
Television appearances
- Food Network"Chopped" guest judge Episode 258 05/13/2014
- BBC One's Saturday Kitchen, a regular guest
- BBC Two's Country Show Cook Off S01 E16-20 (2013)
- ITV This Morning
- Let's Dance for Comic Relief
- Screen expert/judge on BBC Young Chef of the Year (2009)
- Come Dine With Me
- Great Food Live
- Soapstar Superchef
- Time Machine Chefs
Books
- Supergrub: Dinner-party Bliss on a Budget, HarperCollins, (ISBN 9780007176120, 2004)
- Feasts: Food for Sharing from Central and Eastern Europe, Mitchell Beazley, (ISBN 9781845331566, 2006)
- The Eastern and Central European Kitchen: Contemporary & Classic Recipes, Interlink, (ISBN 1566566789, 2008)
- Purple Citrus and Sweet Perfume: Cuisine of the Eastern Mediterranean, Hutchinson, (ISBN 9780091930967, 2010)
- Orient Express, Hutchinson, (ISBN 9780091930950, 2011)
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 The New York Times (2010-07-27). "A London Chef Looks to a Different East". Retrieved 2011-06-25.
- 1 2 Daily Mail. "Abrakebabra: Hold the chilli sauce! There's a new donor in town (yes, it's posh...)". Retrieved 2011-06-03.
- ↑ The Guardian (2010-05-16). "Silvena Rowe's meze recipes". London. Retrieved 2011-06-03.
- 1 2 Harper Collins. "Silvena Rowe". Retrieved 2011-06-03.
- ↑ BBC. "Silvena Rowe". Retrieved 2011-06-03.
- ↑ The Commercial Kitchen. "Quince opens at the May Fair for Silvena Rowe". Retrieved 2011-06-03.
- ↑ The Independent. "Quince, The Mayfair Hotel Stratton Street, London W1". Retrieved 2011-06-03.
- ↑ Visit London. "Quince Restaurant Launches at The May Fair". Retrieved 2011-06-03.