Test your Design IQ

Who is the British celebrity chef best known for his Naked Chef series and trains disadvantaged youths to become professional chefs?

He was born on May 27, 1975 in Essex, England, and grew up in Cambridge with his parents who own a pub and resto called the Cricketers, which is still in business.

He was eight years old when he started working in his parents’ restaurant and at age 11 he could cut vegetables as though he were a professional. When he was 14, he formed the band Scarlet Division with composer/musician Leigh Haggerwood.

After attending the Westminster Catering College at the age of 16, he worked in France, learning as much as he could before returning to London.

Back in London, he worked at Neal Street Restaurant, one of the         best Italian restaurants in England, and then at the famous River Cafe where he learned “all about the time and effort that go into creating the freshest, most honest, totally delicious food.”

The River Cafe also brought about his big break into television. The day after appearing in a documentary about the restaurant called Christmas at the River Cafe, five television companies contacted him about starring in his own show. He accepted the offer from the Optomen Television to produce his first show, The Naked Chef, a title of that alludes to the simplicity of his recipes. The show was a big hit not only in the UK but in the US, too.

Kitchen, his second series, is a documentary that follows him as he mentors 15 unemployed youths and trains them to become professional chefs and help staff his first restaurant Fifteen, a not-for-profit endeavor. The restaurant has been a huge success, and is on its third class of students.

He would later film another charitable project, School Dinners, a four-part series about running the kitchen of Kidbrooke School in Greenwich. It also showcases the Feed Me Better Campaign, his crusade to change the poor eating habits of children and improve school meal systems. The campaign was directly responsible for the British government’s pledge of 280 million pounds to improve school dinners.

His latest series, Oliver’s Twist, appears on the Food Network and follows

him as he shops for the best food in London and takes it home to cook for his friends. In 2005, his Great Escape premiered, a travelogue of his trek across Italy as he tries to rediscover the joy of cooking.

Aside from his many cookbooks, he has a regular column in the Saturday Times Magazine, a monthly editor of Marie Claire (UK), and is the food editor of Britain’s GQ magazine.

In 2003, he was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list for services to the hospitality industry.

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Last week’s question: Identify the architect who designed the HSBC Bldg. and international airport in Hong Kong, the Cupola of the Reichstag in Berlin, and the London City Hall.

Answer: Norman Foster

Winner: Azucena Alim of Bicutan

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