Around the World in 120 Recipes

Allegra McEvedy is a chef, writer, broadcaster and culinary explorer. She has been cooking professionally for 20 years, doing her apprenticeship in some of London's best restaurants, before packing up her knives and moving to the US. After working in New York and San Francisco, she came back and opened The Good Cook in a London community centre, with her ethos of 'the best food to the most people'. In 2000 she became Chef-in-Residence at The ICA, leaving in 2003 to co-found LEON, the award-winning, healthy, fast-food restaurant group, which currently has 11 restaurants. She has had weekly columns in the Evening Standard and the Guardian and is a regular guest presenter on BBC Radio 4's Loose Ends. As well as appearing on a miscellany of television shows, in summer 2009 Allegra co-presented Economy Gastronomy, a BBC series about spending less and using ingredients wisely. She has written four books: The Good Cook (2000), Allegra McEvedy's Colour Cookbook (2006, winner of an IACP award), LEON: Ingredients & Recipes (2008) and the best-selling Economy Gastronomy (2009). Allegra is a spokesperson for the Fairtrade Foundation and in 2008 was awarded the MBE for services to the hospitality industry.