Thomasina Miers

Wahaca, Covent Garden, 2008
Wahaca mobile street kitchen, 2012

Thomasina Jean "Tommi" Miers (born February 1976) is an English cook, writer and television presenter. She is the founder of the Wahaca chain of Mexican street food restaurants.

Early life

Thomasina Jean "Tommi" Miers was born in February 1976[1] in Cheltenham,[2] the daughter of Probyn and Niki Miers.[3]

She studied at St Paul's Girls' School and Ballymaloe Cookery School and worked as a freelance cook and writer, with influences from time spent in Mexico.[4]

Career

In 2005 she won the BBC TV cookery competition MasterChef, "impressing judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace with her bold and, at times, eccentric cooking style".[5]

She has made two series of cookery programmes for Channel 4 with co-presenter Guy Grieve: Wild Gourmets[6] in 2007 and A Cook's Tour of Spain in 2008.[7] In 2011, she presented Mexican Food Made Simple for Channel 5.[8]

She is co-editor with Annabel Buckingham of the cookbook Soup Kitchen (with an introduction by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall). She has also written Cook: Smart Seasonal Recipes for Hungry People,[9] The Wild Gourmets: Adventures in Food and Freedom, with Guy Grieve,[10] and Mexican Food Made Simple.[11]

Miers opened the first of her own restaurants, Wahaca, in the West End of London in August 2007, focused on Mexican street foods.[12] In October 2008 a second Wahaca opened at Westfield in London.[13] Since then she has opened two further restaurants in Canary Wharf and Soho and in 2011, Wahaca launched their first mobile street kitchen, selling Mexican street food on the streets of London.[14] As of September 2015, Wahaca had 19 branches.[15]

Personal life

She is married to investment banker Mark Williams and gave birth to a daughter, Tatyana, in 2011 and Ottilie in 2013.[16][17]

References

  1. "Wahaca Grocery Limited". Companies House. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  2. "''The Independent'': "My Secret Life: Thomasina Miers, chef & food broadcaster"". Independent.co.uk. 2007-11-17. Retrieved 2009-10-08.
  3. http://www.gloucestershireecho.co.uk/FOOD-Cheltenham-born-chef-Wahaca-founder/story-21329063-detail/story.html
  4. "Profile at agalinks". Agalinks.com. Retrieved 2009-10-08.
  5. "BBC Food profile". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2009-10-08.
  6. "Wild Gourmets". Channel 4. Retrieved 2009-10-08.
  7. "A Cook's Tour of Spain". Channel 4. Retrieved 2009-10-08.
  8. "Mexican Food Made Simple". Channel 5. Retrieved 12 March 2013.
  9. HarperCollins, 2005, ISBN 0-00-722937-2
  10. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2007, ISBN 978-0-7475-9157-3
  11. Hodder, 2010, ISBN 978-0-340-99497-9
  12. "Wahaca". Caterersearch. 2007-08-16. Retrieved 2009-10-08.
  13. "Masterchef winner Thomasina Miers to launch second Wahaca". Caterersearch. 2008-09-15. Retrieved 2009-10-08.
  14. http://www.wahaca.co.uk/html/1_restaurantvan.html
  15. http://www.wahaca.co.uk/locations/
  16. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/you/article-2071733/Emotional-ties-chef-Thomasina-Miers.html
  17. "''The Telegraph.co.uk'': Engagement Announcements". Announcements.telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2009-10-08.

External links

Preceded by
Rosa Baden-Powell
BBC Masterchef champion
2005
Succeeded by
Peter Bayless
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