The 50 most influential Maldon® Salt users unveiled across five new categories
How Maldon® Salt became the sea salt of choice for chefs and food professionals the world over.
Why the unique pyramid sea salt flakes are synonymous with elevated flavour.
Welcome to The Maldon® Salt 50, the second instalment of our power list and a rundown of the 50 most influential users of our iconic, hand-harvested sea salt flakes. For 2025, we’re excited to bring five new categories to the fore in a celebration of all things global, social, sweet, savoury and smoky.
Loved the world over, for a long time our beautiful pyramid flakes have been the salt of choice for chefs and caterers, bakers and bartenders. The Maldon Salt 50 returns in 2025 to celebrate all of those individuals.
Globally renowned chefs whose skill, talent and creativity is making waves and headlines at home and abroad.
The pitmasters and mistresses revolutionising the world of outdoor cooking.
Pastry chefs and bakers leading the sector to new realms with innovative recipes and reimagined classics.
Those behind the bar in pubs, hotels and restaurants, creating liquid magic with cocktails and mocktails.
Chef influencers and social media sensations who don’t necessarily wear whites every
The global fine-dining scene is – somehow fittingly – out of this world. Thanks to a proliferation of chefs determined to break new ground, existing boundaries have been pushed, new culinary techniques have been developed and restaurants around the world are offering visitors entirely unique dining experiences. Often key in this groundswell are the highest quality ingredients – Maldon Salt
amongst them – with chefs determined to source the very best produce worthy of the love and care with which they use it. The Worldies are at the forefront of this international movement. Globally renowned, classically trained and drilled in professional kitchen life, they’re the proof that hard work really does pay off – often with the reality of Michelin stars, international accolades and tribes of devoted customers.
Only the best in culinary excellence
Globally renowned Ferran Adrìa started his kitchen life as a KP before joining the navy kitchen team during his military service in the 1980s. Upon leaving, he joined the staff at elBulli working his way up the ranks at the already 2-Michelin starred restaurant on the Spanish coast, ultimately taking over as Head Chef in the mid-80s and gaining its third star in 1997 with some revolutionary culinary techniques but never forgetting the importance of salt, which in his words is “the only product that changes cuisine”.
Named five times as the world’s best restaurant, the site in Spain may have closed in 2011 but lives on in spirit through the elBulli foundation which aims to promote gastronomic education.
Pic of the crop
Anne-Sophie Pic is world class in every sense. Only the fourth female chef to win three Michelin stars and with multiple restaurants around the globe, her name is synonymous with French cuisine of the highest standard. It was her grandfather who was among one of the first chefs to be awarded three stars by Michelin in the 1930s and her father who nurtured Maison Pic the restaurant in the mid-twentieth century. Anne-Sophie initially pursued business school opportunities, but returned to the restaurant Maison Pic in the late 90s, rebuilding her family’s legacy and introducing her own modern twist to classic French cooking. Her approach captures different techniques throughout the cooking process to eke out every echelon of flavour. It worked and Anne-Sophie successfully regained the restaurant’s coveted third star in 2007.
Since then, Pic’s radiance continues to blaze bright. With a total of 10 Michelin Stars to her name, several restaurants across France and more in Dubai, Hong Kong and Lausanne, Anne-Sophie is the crème de la crème of world-class French cuisine.
MEMBER OF THE ORDER OF AUSTRALIA
Down under chef at the top of his game
An icon in his native Australia and famed for his fresh take on Aussie cuisine around the world, Neil Perry started his hospitality journey front-of-house before finding his calling in the kitchen. Winner of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2024 Icon Award and with more ‘chef’s hats’ than any other, he’s led the charge in remodelling what great Australian food can look and taste like.
It was in 1989 that he first opened the ever-popular Rockpool in Sydney and in 1997 he became co-ordinator of Qantas inflight catering. Despite taking a step back from the restaurant empire he’d built in 2020, he’s since opened restaurants in 2021 (Margaret), 2022 (Next Door) and 2024 (Song Bird & Bobbie’s) cementing his status as one of the all-time greats down under.
Botanical chef cooking up a blossoming career
Trained in classical French cooking, Singaporean chef Jason Tan now describes his main culinary style as Gastro-Botanica.
Fusing eastern and western flavours and elevating botanical elements of ingredients to create his signature style, it’s an approach that landed him a Michelin Star at his current residency as chef and co-owner of Restaurant Euphoria in Singapore. With indisputable pedigree – he previously worked at the three-Michelin starred Robuchon au Dôme in China and was chef-owner of the one-Michelin starred Corner House – he traces his love of food and cooking to his mum who herself was a champion of fresh ingredients.
Taking Scandi flavours across the pond
The two-Michelin-starred Aquavit in New York is the pinnacle of Scandinavian cooking. At its helm? Swedish-born Executive Chef Emma Bengtsson. With an early career as a Pastry Chef at some of Sweden’s most respected establishments, she answered the call of The Big Apple in 2010, relocating to New York to take a dream job as Pastry Chef at Aquavit. Four years later, she took over the top job, seamlessly translating her skills and techniques from the pastry section to a savoury focus.
The man behind one of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants, the twoMichelin starred Oteque in Rio de Janeiro, Alberto Landgraf is one of Brazil’s most celebrated chefs. But it was here in the UK that he cut his teeth, attending Westminster Kingsway College and then working in the kitchens of Gordon Ramsay and Tom Aikens, developing his skills before opening one-Michelin starred Epice in Sao Paolo in 2010 and then eight years later, Oteque. Drawing on his Japanese heritage and seasonal, quality ingredients, it’s a restaurant which at its heart celebrates Brazilian produce elevated to the highest level.
“As a chef, you always want to use the best ingredients for everything. If you buy the best meat, fish and vegetables, you want the best salt as well, and so I use Maldon 100% of the time in our kitchen”
From The Bear to a burgeoning business empire
Canadian Matty Matheson has hit the big leagues. Chef, restaurateur, actor, author, social media star, businessman – there’s not much he can’t turn his hand to. From pizza and barbecue to Mexican and Vietnamese, his restaurant conglomerate was already well established when, in 2022, a role in FX’s TV hit The Bear catapulted his fame to new heights.
But it hadn’t always been plain sailing – the class clown during childhood, it was only when he made it to cooking school in Toronto that he realised where his future lay. Working and playing hard throughout his twenties in some of the city’s best restaurants, he learnt his trade and set out to see if he could build his own empire. Suffice to say he’s done that and so much more.
Incorporating classic Nordic practices of pickling and preserving, her vision is underpinned by quality and using sustainably sourced, simple ingredients to create stunning looking (and of course, tasting) dishes.
Kiwi @andycooks has worked in some of the best kitchens in the world, perfecting his craft under the likes of Tom Aikens and calling Auckland, London, Singapore, Sydney and Melbourne home over the years.
Now based in Australia, he’s worked behind the pass as well as on the business side of hospitality, taking on an Exec Chef role to test and develop recipes and managing airport catering outlets. But it was in 2021 that he entered a new era in his career, turning to social media during the Covid-19 pandemic with an almost educational slant. Since then, we’ve watched him cooking all manner of delicious (made all the more so with a touch of Maldon) dishes for ‘babe’, as well as friends and family at home, and seen him gather a staggering 15 million loyal fans in the process.
A breath of fresh air in the heat of the Big Apple food scene
Colombian-born Stephanie Bonnin has all the hallmarks of a chef set for greatness. With formal training at ICE – America’s foremost culinary school – and the Basque Culinary Centre in Spain, she worked at some of New York’s most prestigious fine dining establishments in her formative years.
Inspired by those around her, she launched La Tropi Kitchen during the pandemic – a pop-up from her own home – followed by the fully realised Patio Tropical, a culinary studio exploring the diversity of Latin American food and flavours. With a focus on how migrant and food pathways intersect, Stephanie’s cooking is a celebration of heritage and a breath of fresh air on the New York dining scene.
British born chef championing new generations in the Rainbow Nation
Luke is a Brit in South Africa by way of Switzerland, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea and the Philippines. He is, by anyone’s estimations, a powerhouse of a chef. Based in Cape Town since 2006, he spent four years as Exec Chef at La Colombe – declared the best restaurant in Africa and the Middle East in 2010 – before starting many of his own ventures including The Test Kitchen, The Pot Luck Club and most recently Salon – named Africa’s best new restaurant at the 2024 World Culinary Awards.
A champion of young chefs and mentor to many, he’s helped to nurture the next generation of chefs in South Africa and take the country’s fine dining scene to the next level.
reads and buns, cakes and cookies, pastries and pies. From the amateur bakers experimenting with sourdough starters in their home kitchens to the expert pastry chefs producing exquisite pâtisserie, baking holds a very special place in the British psyche. The quintessential afternoon tea remains a hotel favourite, artisan bakeries are making a welldeserved comeback and 15 series in, The Great British Bake Off is as popular as ever. And yet, infused with the traditional is a palpable element
of the modern – innovative flavours, forms and techniques helping to feed a baking frenzy.
At the vanguard of this revolution? The Breadwinners, the upper crust of the baking world. Individuals who know that whatever they’re making – modern takes or traditional bakes –one thing remains true: a pinch of Maldon Salt is the not-so-secret ingredient that elevates and enhances, taking baked goods to baked greats.
Making pastry perfection look as easy as pie
Innovator with a taste for the classics
Pastry Chef and Chocolatier Sarah Frankland’s star is shining bright. Classically trained at Westminster Kingsway, she’s spent the last twenty years honing and perfecting her craft, rising through the ranks under the likes of William Curley and Angela Hartnett, before taking on her first Head Pastry Chef role at the Michelin-starred Yauatcha.
A move to Pennyhill Park in 2016 proved a wise one – six years later she was appointed Executive Chef and hasn’t looked back since, overseeing more than 250 covers across multiple food outlets, mentoring 11 team members to promotion and winning the Hotel Chef of the Year Catey in 2024. Sarah’s big on flavour balancing and seasoning – a philosophy that comes from a real understanding of how to make sweet treats taste better – but she’s also got a real creative flair. She’s the woman behind the legendary chocolate taco and has reimagined childhood favourites such as the humble Jaffa Cake. With a real eye for detail, suffice to say the future of pastry is in very safe hands.
The boy who bakes
Having grown up helping his mum make mince pies, perhaps Edd Kimber, aka The Boy Who Bakes, was always destined to carve out a career in baking. Not that it was always so cut and dried – a politics degree and a stint in the corporate world doesn’t typically say ‘star baker’ but Edd is just that – Bake Off champ from 2010.
With a portfolio of mouthwatering recipes, think decadent cakes or chewy, delicious cookies, indulgence is the watchword when it comes to Edd’s baking. With seven cookbooks to his name, an awardwinning blog and recipe contributions across TV and media, his foolproof techniques and down-to-earth approach has secured him over 475k followers on social media and legions of Substack fans.
Pie Maker is some job title. But that’s exactly the claim SouthAfrican born chef Nokx Majozi can stake. The mastermind behind the offering at Rosewood London’s The Pie Room at Holborn Dining Room, she credits her father for first introducing her to the magic of cooking, along with Holborn Dining Room’s former Exec Chef Calum Franklin for inspiring her professionally, and more specifically, helping her find her niche for creating perfectly crafted pies.
Combining food and artistry, her meticulous attention to detail is second-to-none, and by all accounts, a highly therapeutic part of her process. A showcase of beautiful pastry with both classic and innovative fillings, Nokx’s creations have taken the industry by storm.
Rising star, a true force for good
Kitty Tait may only be 20, but she’s already got six years of baking brilliance under her belt. Now owner of community-run bakery The Orange Bakery, author of cookbook Breadsong and the force behind not-for-profit Breaducating Britain, initially, baking was simply a lifeline, the therapeutic tool in her battle against depression. But creating sourdough in her kitchen with her dad was just the beginning.
Passionate about making great bread inclusive, to date her Breaducation programme has donated over 35,000 ‘just add water’ bread kits to schools, food hubs, prisons and charities, whilst her social media channels offer an authentic look at what life as a modern baker looks like.
Multi-talented artist with the baking world at her feet
Since getting to the final of series 10 in 2019, Bake Off alumna Alice Fevronia has spread her wings far beyond the iconic white tent. A keen baker since childhood – where she learnt all the basics from her grandma – her passion for baking and all things creative took off whilst recovering from a back operation aged 15.
Alice now counts nearly 200k loyal fans on Instagram where her beautiful bakes are often paired with an equally beautifully illustrated card of the dish and recipe. Full of seasonal ideas and creative takes – think tennis ball cakes or meringue skeletons – Alice’s bakes are both artistic and precise, fuelled by her unique imagination.
Pop-up pizzaiolo turned pizza master
Rich Payne, who goes by @dough_and_behold on Instagram, has become a pizzaiolo by stealth. With a day job in video editing, it was the simple process of kneading dough after a stressful day in the office that marked his first foray into pizza making. A stand at his daughter’s Christmas fair working alongside his 10-year-old to create 50 pizzas for the masses sparked the beginning of a pop-up dynasty.
Now, he is quite simply a pizza master, fusing flavours and courses – hello breakfast butty pizza – showcasing quality ingredients and creating innovative takes on everyone’s favourite Italian dish.
The better bread campaigner you ‘knead’ to know about
Jack Sturgess has built an empire on bread. On a mission to demystify the process of kneading, proving, resting and rising, he made the jump from professional chef to bread maker in 2013 and hasn’t looked back.
Using his social channels to troubleshoot common questions and problems, he also counts demonstrator and educator among his many talents, making frequent appearances on food festival stages and Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch. The release of his debut cookbook, Bread Everyday in 2022, added the role of author to his already impressive C.V. A true champion of the humble loaf, he’s also a proud supporter of the Real Bread Campaign and offers online and in-person courses in his Bake with Jack studio.
The ‘cult’ baker set to go mainstream
Owner of Edinburgh-based Lannan Bakery (meaning ‘house’ in Gaelic), 27-year-old Darcie Maher has had a stratospheric rise. After getting her start at the Macclesfield-based bakery Flour Water Salt as a teenager, she honed her skills at bakeries in Edinburgh, including The Palmerston – quickly getting noticed for her creative edge and talent as a pastry chef.
Now with a profile in Vogue, an award for Pastry Newcomer of the Year, as well as daily queues outside the door before opening hours, Lannan has reached cult status, attracting visitors from all over the world, enamoured with the hyper-seasonal flavours, meticulous attention to detail and delicious cakes and bakes.
Bake Off winner championing stunning simplicity
With his easy-going attitude and enthusiastic spirit, people’s favourite Matty Edgell took the Bake Off tent by storm in 2023, emerging victorious after a steep learning curve and an inspirational journey.
The ex-PE teacher’s no-frills approach to baking has launched him to stardom in the intervening years, amassing nearly half a million followers on Instagram and landing him live spots on TV along with countless food festival stages. Sharing easy tips and tricks as well as recipes which offer stunning results –from seasonally-themed bakes to the classics we all know and love – perfectly executed cakes dominate Matty’s creations, showing his loyal fans how to do the basics, but better.
Queen of Dough rises high
It wasn’t really until lockdown that self-taught baker Lacey Ostermann found her calling. The self-confessed “Maldon fangirl” opened a micro-bakery from her kitchen in 2020 and started out selling bread, pizza dough and other baked goodies to her neighbours before pivoting to create video tutorials on social media.
Dubbed the ‘Queen of Dough’, her platform is a carb-lovers heaven, and she’s gained hundreds of thousands of followers, most recently converting her success into a brand-new cookbook: 3 Doughs, 60 Recipes showing how three easy-to-master doughs can provide the foundation for countless more delicious bakes.
Top mixologists possess a unique skillset. So much more than just pourers of drinks, bartending is an art form, one which also thrives upon a mastery of science –combining technical knowledge with creative flair to uncover innovative flavour pairings and create liquid magic. Alchemy. That ability to perfectly balance flavour often comes down to (whisper it with us) a sprinkle of sea salt in their
cocktail shakers, knowing full well that far from giving their serves a saline edge, its properties in fact do the opposite – tempering bitterness, elevating sweetness and allowing the ingredients to sing. Concocting and experimenting, shaking and serving, those who stand behind the bars across the country’s pubs, restaurants and hotels are nothing short of alchemists.
From couture to cocktails
World-famous model and fashion icon Portia Freeman has an alter ego: queen of the ‘at home’ cocktail. The long-time lover of mixology forged a new chapter in her career when, locked down at home in 2020, she launched her Portia’s Happy Hour series on Instagram, crafting beautiful serves for her followers to recreate in their own homes. Calls from Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch, ITV’s This Morning and glossy magazines followed, featuring her classic and contemporary recipes for showstopping cocktails.
“I’m such a huge fan of Maldon and have long since championed adding a pinch of salt to all my cocktails.”
More than just a cocktail guy
The Maestro of modern mixology
Salvatore Calabrese is known as The Maestro for good reason. Italian by birth, he got his first job at a hotel bar aged just 11 and there began a love affair with both hospitality and bartending. At 25, a move to London saw him land a job at The Dukes Hotel where he created Liquid History – a concept celebrating rare cognacs which soon attracted celebrities, businessmen and royalty alike. Stints at The Lanesborough, Fifty St James Club and Salvatore’s at Playboy all followed where he created drinks still famous today.
Whilst the architect of both the world’s most expensive cocktail (a cool £5,500 per glass) and the world’s oldest cocktail (liqueurs with a combined age of 730), his skill as host is, by his own admission, as important as his skill as innovator. Now a best-selling author, competition judge, sought-after consultant and former President of the United Kingdom Bartenders’ Guild, his status as The Maestro is quite justifiably, unrivalled.
AKA The Cocktail Guy, Rich Woods has no doubt carved out a place among the country’s top mixologists. But that has not always been the dream. In fact, he confesses it was the hospitable side of working in bars and restaurants that he enjoyed most – his role in helping to make someone’s day. But his love of experimentation and combining flavours (always with a pinch of salt to brighten every element) is now evident.
In charge of the drinks offering at some of London’s most famous bars – SushiSamba and Duck & Waffle amongst them – and with hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram, his influence and expertise is unparalleled.
Unsung hero with a serious work ethic
Cressida Lawlor comes hot off the heels from launching Ego Death, in Manchester’s Northern Quarter, at the end of 2024. A New York style speakeasy with a focus on bourbon is perhaps fitting for a mixologist whose previous experience includes London Cocktail Club and Sexy Fish and its astonishing array of Japanese whiskies.
Winner of Bar Magazine’s Unsung Hero Award of 2025, Cressida’s tireless commitment to mentorship and inclusivity goes hand in hand with her commitment to exquisite drinks and hospitality to the highest degree.
Focusing on the fine flavours of Japan
As Head Sommelier at The Aubrey, The Mandarin Oriental’s award-winning Japanese restaurant and cocktail bar, Maxim Kassir is a man on a mission. With a deep understanding of wine rooted in childhood – his grandparents in Moldova owned a vineyard - gaining WSET qualifications when he arrived in London in 2016 only enhanced his knowledge.
Experience behind the bar and as Beverage Director for The Doyle Collection of hotels led him down a path flowered by indepth knowledge of both Japanese whisky and sake. He’s now behind The Aubrey’s own sake label and has been appointed ambassador to Drink Japan thanks to more than a little knowledge about meticulous serves and quality products.
Honing his craft from the floorboards up
Learning English by day and sweeping floors and setting tables by night, even in his early twenties Erik Lorincz had a vision. With experience behind the bar in his native Slovakia, he started from the bottom again on arrival in London, with the knowledge and work ethic to rise to the top.
And rise to the top he did, launching his own bar, Kwãnt, in Mayfair in 2019 off the back of bartending roles at some of London’s most iconic bars: the Purple Bar at the Sanderson, The Connaught Bar and The American Bar at The Savoy. Learning from the likes of Agostino Perrone and developing his own signature flair and style along the way, Erik Lorincz is now a household name.
Giulia Cuccurullo’s background in architecture may seem incongruous to a career in creating drinks, but by her own admission, both the physics and the physicality of the former inform her MO as a mixologist. It helped her claim the title back in 2018 of The Artesian’s – The Langham Hotel’s bar – first female Head Bartender.
Originally from Italy’s Naples, upon moving to London and securing a job at The Artesian she honed her craft, citing legendary bartenders Marco Corallo, Remy Savage and Anna Sebastian as some of her most valued mentors before taking over the running herself and crafting her own unique proposition.
Bartending in the Bargiani blood
Hospitality is in Giorgio Bargiani’s blood. Hailing from Pisa, Italy, where his family owned a restaurant, he held down various bartending jobs whilst studying in Italy, before eventually ending up at Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir Aux Quat’Saisons. But it was in 2014 that he landed a role at The Connaught, and under the tutelage of industry legend Agostino Perrone, worked his way up the ranks, first to Head Mixologist in 2019 and on to his title today: Assistant Director of Mixology.
Constantly thinking about a customer’s experience, not simply the serve, it’s no surprise he was named 2023’s International Bartender of the Year.
Cocktail Carmen establishing her own empire
Spirits connoisseur Carmen O’Neal, who also goes by the moniker Cocktail Carmen, is blazing a trail for women in the drinks’ industry. The Canadian-born gin expert is founder of London-based distillery 58 and CO and she prides her award-winning range of spirits on their ethical and sustainable properties. For her efforts – which include coasters made from single-use plastics and labels made from discarded grape skins – she’s been awarded B-Corp status.
A regular on the BBC’s Saturday Kitchen – where she shares her cocktail knowledge and expertise, a dynamic speaker – passionate about inclusivity and sustainability, and highly-respected businesswoman, Carmen’s spirit-based empire is in very good health.
Simplicity is the key for elegant Elon
Elon Soddu may hail from Italy, but he has made London his home. Honing his craft in some of the city’s top hotel bars, including The Blue Bar at The Berkeley and The Beaufort Bar at The Savoy, he’s a champion of simplicity and elegance to let the drinks do the talking.
He realised a dream in 2021 when he opened his own bar, Amaro in Kensington, three years later making it on to the World’s 50 Best Bars list. With a neighbourhood feel but an emphasis on modern mixology, it wasn’t long before sister site, Twice Shy opened in Earl’s Court to rave reviews.
The urge to cook over open flame may be a primal one, but the growth in and interest around the art of grilling, especially in the UK (despite our less than clement climate) has been stratospheric. No longer the macho preserve it once was, diverse new faces and personalities are emerging on the fire cooking scene to teach us techniques both new and time worn, honouring the dual traditions of smoking and ‘low and slow’ cooking while breaking down the barriers of what we previously thought possible and with
proper seasoning – whether to brine, marinade, or finish a dish – a key part of that process.
Vegan and vegetarian fire food now sits pride of place alongside more familiar meat-heavy menu items, while a heightened interest in year-round barbecuing is fuelling a new grilling economy. Here, we meet some of the leading lights tending the flames of the new fire cooking revolution.
A passion for provenance
Proud Welshman Nathan Davies has been schooled at some of his nation’s very finest establishments, including Steven Terry’s The Hardwick and the world renowned Ynshir, where he worked as head chef alongside Gareth Ward. In 2019, he opened SY23 in Aberystwyth earning a Michelin star at the very first attempt, applying a core ethos of using only the finest local and foraged produce, all gathered within the SY23 postcode, and cooked simply over fire.
Nathan cooks over wood and charcoal on BBQ grills that he builds himself, foraging, tapping birch trees, fishing and hunting in local woods. The result is a showcase of the remarkable produce of his native West Wales, treated with the utmost respect. Later this year, he’ll open new venture Vraic on Guernsey, celebrating the island’s rich produce through fire-led tasting menus.
Biologist to best seller
Godfather of the grill
Raised in Maryland, yet UK-based for the past two decades, this BAFTA award winning TV presenter, celebrated author, DJ and self-confessed ‘cater-tainer’ has in recent years shed the stars and stripes spandex to reveal a more cerebral side and return to his roots as a founding father of British fire food. Be under no illusion, the much-loved showman side of DJ BBQ is still very much in residence, typified by his and trusty sidekick Chops’ now legendary performances on the annual summer food festival scene.
Yet his evolution from young upstart to elder statesman, via mentoring and championing up and coming chefs, being a gun for hire emcee at live cooking events and authoring some of the UK’s most successful cookbooks centring on his love of good food and good times, has been nothing short of prolific.
Genevieve is the live-fire chef flipping the Man vs Meat BBQ trope on its head. A trained biologist, her love of nature, sustainability and seasonality comes through in all she cooks, as does her understanding of ingredients and seasoning. From her garden in Bristol, she’s perfected the recipes for 13 game-changing cookbooks, including her bestselling BBQ bible trilogy: Scorched, Charred and Seared.
Committed to sharing her love of live fire, she also runs Bristol Fire School, a unique proposition helping people ‘do fire better’ that routinely sells out. She’s a woman on a mission to show how, with a little bit of knowledge (and a generous sprinkle of Maldon), everything can be made slightly more delicious when cooked on a BBQ.
Chef-entertainer with all the skills to tame the flames
If you come across Chris Taylor, alias T-Bone Chops, on the food festival circuit, you could easily mistake him for the front man of a heavy metal band, but make no mistake, beneath the exterior lurks a chef of serious skill and repute. With past life experience as a home economist on MasterChef, ‘Chops’ harbours passions for provenance, harvest and the history of how we eat.
The co-writer of highly successful cookbooks such as ‘Fire Feasts’, ‘Fire Food’ and ‘Backyard Baking’ authored alongside DJ BBQ, Chris specialises in fire cookery of every hue. On any given day you could find him delivering specialist courses at the Michelin-star Northcote, feeding hungry masses at his now legendary festive Choppy Feast, or wielding his beloved vintage shovel as an air guitar to entertain patrons of the summer festival scene.
Pacific soul from the All Blak
warrior with fire in her belly
Born in Kabul, raised in Mumbai and brought up in Hackney, Mursal is the Director of British Afghan BBQ specialists Cue Point and founder of Cue Point Kitchen – a social enterprise that provides free catering and English language training alongside free trauma therapy for racialised people in hospitality.
Inclusivity is a theme that runs throughout her work; not only is Mursal’s award-winning east London outpost, situated in JuJu’s bar and kitchen in Shoreditch, a space for all – she and owner Joshua Moroney specialise in recreating and elevating British Afghan dishes – the globally inspired menu is also stacked high with vegan, vegetarian, Halal and gluten-free options to suit all tastes. With a recent appearance on Saturday Kitchen adding to fuel to her evergrowing reputation, this socially conscious fire chef looks more than at home both disrupting and playing alongside the culinary elites.
Cutting his culinary teeth under both Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver, before helping the acclaimed Caravan and Vardo restaurant group grow from two to seven sites, Mat went solo in 2022, launching his very own food consultancy, Kaiwhenua, meaning ‘Food from the Land’. The native Māori now creates innovative recipe concepts for the likes of Goodman Steak House Group, Caravan and Big Green Egg, while his social content speaks both to his expertise as a live fire chef and his unique sense of humour.
With a style described as ‘southern pacific soul, modernised over fire’ Mat’s food respectfully leans into his heritage, but retains an edge of accessibility and fun, as typified by the man himself.
Fire chefs, street food pioneers, restaurateurs, celebrated authors, event hosts, national TV and radio personalities and all-out food obsessives; when it comes to dynamic cooking duos, Sam & Shauna have countless strings to their collective bows. The eagle eyed among you might suggest that this takes our tally to 51 cooking luminaries, yet the ‘Hang Fire’ brand they have carefully built over the past 12 years is greater than the sum of its parts. Put simply, the pair are truly inseparable.
Credited with starting the street food and pop-up movement in their native Wales, landing numerous awards for their sustainable, ethical and creative cooking, as well as educating budding foodies on the benefits of outdoor cuisine, this charismatic and hard-working pair are true OG ambassadors for UK fire food (and Maldon Salt).
Brixton boy rising from the ashes of lockdown
This award-winning chef, consultant and restaurateur sure fits the mould of a live fire exponent, and Andrew Clarke is some skilled practitioner with 25 years in the business. Best known for his previous London restaurants, Brunswick House and St Leonards, it was at the latter post that he was to meet now business partner Daniel Watkins, with the pair going on to create ACME Fire Cult.
Andrew has shunned the modern kitchen set up, preferring the lick of simple flame to make his menu of mostly vegetables sing as loudly as the music and atmosphere that makes ACME one of the capital’s most talked about spots.
In 2019, Ruben Dawnay won a coveted spot at Brixton Market after pitching a restaurant concept that spoke to his love of hand smoking meats and his Polish-Jewish roots. Ruben’s Reubens was duly born but had to be put on pause due to the oncoming pandemic.
As the UK unlocked, he returned to restaurants, meeting chef Robin Gill, who quickly gave Ruben space in his Brentford bakery. After almost bankrupting himself on a huge smoker, Ruben decided to go it alone, launching a spate of highly successful popups before reuniting with Gill at Vauxhall’s Darby’s, where he and the Ruben’s Reubens concept currently reside. With a menu that includes items such as Guinness & brisket sausage and sharing trays of Iberico pork shoulder and smoked chicken, this young Firestarter’s repertoire is a stunning ode to an eclectic range of culinary influences.
Melissa Thompson has spent the last decade forming her own niche in the world of live fire cooking. Her first foray into the foodie world, back in 2014, saw her start the Fowl Mouths supper club in her front room. But after having a baby in 2018, she refocused her efforts to become the multi-award-winning chef, author and broadcaster she is today.
Panellist on BBC Radio 4’s The Kitchen Cabinet, columnist for BBC Good Food magazine, regular recipe writer for The Guardian, her debut cookbook Motherland – which explores the evolution of Jamaican food – was published in September 2022. Today, she’s a figure who’s truly transcended the discipline, to become a leading voice on identity, diversity and inclusivity in the UK food industry.
To be an influencer is to be constantly looking for ways to connect with your audience - and in the foodie world, more often than not, that means over a (virtual) bowl of deliciousness. The drive for virality, perfectly-optimised videos or algorithm-friendly content is ever present as users seek to cut through the noise and create extraordinary dishes, elevated from the everyday.
For foodies, social media has created endless opportunities. Providing a platform for countless
Champion of flavour
Racking up over 20 million followers across Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and YouTube, @notoriousfoodie knows more than a little about influence. The selftaught chef may have only started his Instagram page in 2018, but in seven years, he’s built quite the empire. Not bound by any one cuisine or flavour profile, his accounts simply celebrate food done well, whether that’s in his home cooking series or from sharing his adventures in restaurants around the world.
start-ups, at-home cooks and individuals who may not wear whites in their day jobs, social media has become a powerhouse of a tool for the sensational chefs who have made their home kitchens their offices.
Regardless of motivation – quick eats, weekend brunches, slow food, meal prepping, date night dishes – the socialites have one thing in common, to create inspirational content that looks good and tastes amazing. With legions of fans (and even more influence), the socialites are redefining what it means to be an influencer in 2025.
Manifesting Mediterranean magic
Meliz Berg’s Turkish-Cypriot heritage shines through in all that she creates and yet her dishes seem so achievable, so user friendly. Under the handle @melizcooks, she’s created a loyal following of hundreds of thousands, all enamoured with her recipes which bring together influences from around the Mediterranean and simply do not compromise when it comes to delivering on flavour.
A longtime Maldon fan, she confesses “I cannot imagine cooking or being in my kitchen without a box of Maldon Salt to hand - whether I’m using it to flavour recipes, meats and marinades with, to season at the end of cooking to taste, or to sprinkle over my favourite vegetables, salad and meze dishes, it’s an essential ingredient in my kitchen!”
From hummus to headliner
Whatever he’s making, he champions top quality ingredients seasoned to perfection, cooking every dish from scratch with the utmost care and attention, never cutting corners and showing followers how to bring out maximum flavour in every dish. His cleverly shot videos – which have given his iconic chopping board a status symbol of their own – leverage ASMR to great effect, and on principle should come with a PSA: don’t watch when hungry.
Spend any time scrolling through @alfiecooks’ content and it won’t be long before his love of plant-based goodness – and dips and soups in particular – (plus a smattering of football) comes to the fore.
Many of his recipes focus on store cupboard staples and affordable ingredients – showing his followers how to reduce food waste and use up what’s in the fridge without compromising on flavour (often where a little pinch of Maldon comes in). A well-timed bright pink beetroot hummus that coincided with the Barbie movie helped launch the self-taught home cook, now with over 5 million followers, to stardom and his ‘Take A Dip’ and ‘Soup Season’ series that followed, have secured his status as a headliner among the foodie content creators.
English teaching us the language of good food
Better known as @emthenutritionist, in the four years since Emily English started creating content, she’s taken the social media world by storm. With a degree in Nutrition, her approach may be sciencebacked but it’s flavour first; in her words ‘food you want to eat’.
Her passion for creating balanced meals that taste delicious, and her desire to be a trusted source of information in the often misleading space of nutrition, is evident. It’s been a journey that’s entailed teenaged shifts at her Granny’s restaurant, a battle with disordered eating and hours spent cooking and filming to get to where she is now – namely a probiotic brand, a bestselling cookbook (another forthcoming), and millions of loyal followers.
Sam showing others the way
With a cool 9.9 million followers on TikTok and a few million more between Instagram and YouTube, Sam Way, aka @samseats, didn’t anticipate an influencer career when he first started creating foodie content. Instead, it was in a bid to create a portfolio, to show future employers that his ‘love of cooking’ was more than words on a page. But after a few weeks of routinely getting hundreds of thousands of views, he realised his knack for creating compelling recipe videos could open up a whole world of new opportunities.
A certified ‘extreme home cook’, his recipes show a real curiosity around food and how dishes are created – curing and smoking ham joints, making mozzarella – all beautifully shot to make for mesmerising videos. He may not have set out to achieve influence but no doubt, influence has been thrust upon him.
Wholesome Hannah creating an audience of
Hannah Wilding (@hannahwilding_) shares recipes, seasonal stories, and the rhythm of everyday eating - from a small London kitchen with a seasonal eye and a soft spot for...beans.
During lockdown, sharing a humble bowl of porridge on Instagram became the beginning of something more lasting. Since then, she’s grown a loyal community around simple, seasonal meals, thoughtful writing, and a visual style that’s warm, homely and relatable. Wholesome, fresh, veg-centric food dominates her flavour-filled feed - from what’s bubbling on the stove, being tossed through zesty dressings to the small seasonal shifts outside the window. And as an “avid Maldon Salt sprinkler’ all made a little brighter with perfect seasoning.
Feeder with her own social feed
Award-winning author and food photographer Uyen Luu (@ lovelulu) arrived in England aged five, and thanks to her mother’s dedication, has always had a strong connection to the Vietnamese cuisine of her roots. A real feeder, whose love of food and cooking shines through in all her content, her videos simplify Vietnamese cuisine, offering tips and tricks on everything from how to fold dumplings to deep fat frying alternatives.
But her social presence has not only been built online, with supper clubs and cooking classes from her home in Hackney helping to build a unique voice in the foodie world and build her fans and following.
The King of plant-based cooking
With 979k Instagram followers and counting, @jacobking has the world of plant-based food at his feet. Not that you’d necessarily assume vegan dishes were his sole focus given the all-encompassing nature of his content. Vegan for nearly 10 years, his videos are a showcase of hearty, vibrant and delicious-looking food that just so happen to be plant-based.
Fighting the stereotype that veganism isn’t ‘manly’, he’s passionate about dishes delivering on flavour and variety. A self-confessed food lover, Jacob is no gatekeeper, divulging his favourite restaurants, taking followers on grocery walk-throughs and sharing top notch recipes.
Showing us how to fall in love with food
A trained chef who’s worked in restaurants all around the world, time spent in a countryside butchers, writer for Waitrose magazine, co-founder of a hot honey brand, hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers, popular substack, a MOB kitchen contributor and a first cookbook coming out later this year, Ben Lippett (@dinnerbyben) has already achieved more than what most of us could hope for in a lifetime.
Showing people how to cook properly is where he’s happiest. Explaining the ‘why’ to his followers, revealing how ingredients can work together, creating dishes that people will enjoy cooking all feeds into the trademark style that’s set him on his path to widespread influence and a well-earned spot in the Socialites.
Persistence pays off
Chloe René may be a graduate of London’s Le Cordon Bleu, but she soon realised the stress of restaurant life wasn’t for her. Instead, she turned to recipe development, merging her technical training with flavours and influences from around the world to build a portfolio of recipes both innovative and accessible. Originally from the Seychelles, but brought up in Switzerland, she credits her mum and the wonderful diversity of Geneva for her love of cooking.
Now Food Editor at MOB, crafting recipes and content to inspire her followers to try something new – be that ingredients, cuisines or techniques. With her influence in the foodie world growing all the time, keep an eye on @chlo_eat, she’s certainly one to watch.
