Presenter biographies: G-I

Daniel was born in Lure in the Franche-Comté region of eastern France and became interested in food and cooking at an early age. His grandparents ran an organic farm and family meals consisted of their own home-grown produce. After leaving school he took up a three-year apprenticeship with chef Yves Lalloz in the spa town of Luxeil-les-Bains.

Daniel's career has taken him all over the world, including Sweden and France, and in London he worked at the highly acclaimed Le Gavroche under the tutelage of Michel Roux.

In 1989, Daniel was working in Scotland where he was awarded the title of Master Chef of the Year. He has earned several Michelin stars, including one at Harvey's in Bristol, where he was chef/manager, and one at the Restaurant L'Ortolan near Reading.

Until recently, Daniel was working as executive head chef at fine-dining restaurant Waldo's, in Cliveden House, Berkshire. In 2006, under Galmiche, the restaurant earned its first Michelin star.

Daniel has cooked at events around the world, including a festival of fine food at The Regency Intercontinental in Bahrain and at the prestigious Gourmet Food Festival in South Africa.

Daniel joined the Forbury hotel in Reading in 2008, taking over the kitchens at Cerise and Eden restaurants.

Daniel has appeared on Saturday Kitchen and writes for a number of publications. He appeared in the BBC Two series Food Poker in autumn 2007.

London-born former rock drummer and songwriter Graham Garrett has run restaurants for renowned chefs Nico Ladenis and Richard Corrigan. He then bought his own small restaurant, called The West House, in Biddenden, Kent, where he was awarded his first Michelin star in 2004.

As well as winning many accolades for the restaurant, Graham has also cooked dinner at 10 Downing Street for visiting dignitaries and was honoured to cook a private dinner for Her Majesty, the Queen of England.

Graham Garrett appeared in the BBC Two series Food Poker in autumn 2007.

Stuart grew up in Crawley, Sussex. His parents came from Glasgow and his fondest early memories are of the delicacies his parents would bring home from trips back to Scotland.

Stuart wasn't particularly interested in cooking while he was growing up, but when, at a loose end after finishing school, his brother suggested he enrol on a catering course, he agreed.

Once he'd completed his City and Guilds apprenticeship at Crawley, Stuart worked at a local chain hotel for a year as part of a Youth Training Scheme. It was around this time that Stuart and a group of fellow cooking students visited Albert Roux's Le Gavroche restaurant, which was an eye-opening experience. However, it wasn’t until he worked abroad, first in Italy, then Sweden, that Stuart discovered a real passion for cooking.

Stuart worked as head chef alongside Angela Hartnett at The Connaught, then moved on to London's famous celebrity haunt Le Caprice. He has also worked under Daniel Boulud, at the acclaimed American chef's eponymous restaurant in New York City. Stuart was chosen by Gordon Ramsay to run the Boxwood Café at The Berkeley, which opened in May 2003. More recently, Stuart was appointed to oversee the launch of London's Savoy Grill, which is expected to reopen in 2010.

Stuart appeared in the second series of Great British Menu in spring 2007. He appeared in the BBC Two series Food Poker in autumn 2007.

New Zealand-born Peter Gordon, co-owner and head chef of London's Providores and Tapa Room, is renowned as a leading light of the Antipodean 'fusion' style of cookery.

Peter began his career at the age of 17 as an apprentice in Melbourne. With this grounding he spent the next year travelling around South-east Asia, India and Nepal - an experience that was the catalyst to his development of the fusion style of blending Eastern and Western cuisines.

Back in New Zealand in 1986, he became head chef of the original Sugar Club in Wellington. Its success convinced the owners to transplant it to London's Notting Hill in 1995, where he was again appointed head chef. The Sugar Club quickly became one of the hottest tickets in town and picked up a Time Out award only a year later. The best-selling Sugar Club Cookbook followed soon after alongside monthly columns for glossies and several TV appearances.

He left the Sugar Club in 1999 and two years later got together with Michael McGrath, Jeremy Leeming and Anna Hansen to open the Providores and Tapa Room to the same critical and public acclaim as the Sugar Club. He also set up the annual charity event Who's Cooking Dinner? in 1999 to raise money for leukaemia research.

Peter opened a restaurant in Auckland, New Zealand in 2005, where he travels four times a year. He also consults to restaurants in Istanbul and New York City.

Peter is the author of several other cookery books, including Cook at Home with Peter Gordon, A World in my Kitchen and Salads - The New Main Course. His most recent book is Vegetables: The New Food Heroes, which was published in 2006.

Peter has appeared on various TV programmes on BBC, Discovery, Channel 4 and the Carlton Food Network, as well as on networks in New Zealand and the US. He appeared in the BBC Two series Food Poker in autumn 2007.

Australian chef and restaurateur Bill Granger is as famous for his sunny disposition as he is for his Sydney cafés. An easy-going approach to food has always been Bill's philosophy and is an important element of his enduring popularity in Australia and in the UK.

Born in Melbourne, Bill moved to Sydney when he was 19 to study fine art. Working as a waiter, his focus gradually shifted from art to food.

He was only 22 when he opened his now iconic Sydney café, bills, a simple affair with a large communal table, open kitchen and whitewashed walls. Three years later, in 1996, the second bills opened in Surry Hills. His most recent restaurant, bills Woollahra, opened in 2005.

Bill has written several cookery books, including Sydney Food, bills food, bills open kitchen, simply bill, Every Day, Holiday and Feed Me Now, the most recent of which was published in 2009.

Bill appears frequently in both Australian and international media. He writes a weekly Sydney Morning Herald Good Living column and regularly contributes to Australia's delicious magazine, as well as Olive magazine.

He also appears on both Australian and international TV and radio. In 2004 Bill launched his debut television series, bills food, shown on BBC One, and he regularly appears on BBC Two’s Saturday Kitchen. bills food 2 was shown in early 2007.

Matthew Gray is the one Michelin-starred head chef at the Inverlochy Castle Hotel, near Fort William. The restaurant holds three AA rosettes. Matthew was appointed head chef in 2000, having joined the hotel in 1995 and been promoted to sous chef in 1997.

Matthew was born and raised in Elderslie, Renfrewshire, Scotland. He initially followed his father into the hospitality industry, completing a degree in hotel management at Napier Polytechnic, Edinburgh in 1990. However, he subsequently decided that hospitality wasn't for him, and trained instead as a chef.

Matthew appeared in the 2008 series of Great British Menu on BBC Two, representing Scotland.

The partnership of Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray has gone from strength to strength since they set up the River Café in the late 1980s. Along the way, they have welcomed celebrities on both sides of the kitchen door.

Ruth and Rose opened the River Café as a simple place, serving lunch to Hammersmith locals. It soon became a big hit, attracting food lovers from across London. Their aim was to provide a little piece of stylish Italy on the banks of the Thames.

The restaurant has become famous and its reputation brings in equally well-known diners. It has spawned books of the River Café recipes from the menu, plus a cookery school. The restaurant was unfortunately closed for six months following a devastating fire in April 2008, but reopened later that year with a new look.

Ruth and Rose have also brought their love of Italian cuisine to TV and it was during the making of one programme that Jamie Oliver was discovered working in the kitchen. Another famous ex-member of the River Café staff is Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.

Sophie, the daughter of acclaimed food writer Jane Grigson, has also emerged to become synonymous with great food, often using new and exciting ingredients in simple, easy dishes. She has a natural ability to teach cookery in an informal and friendly way, and her TV career began in 1993 with the award-winning 12-part Grow Your Greens, Eat Your Greens for Channel 4.

In 2001, Sophie won the Guild of Food Writers Cookery Journalist Award. Sophie is the author of numerous cookery books on subjects from herbs to fish, to meat. Her most recent The Vegetable Bible, was published 2009. Sophie Grigson's Country Kitchen was published in September 2003, The First-time Cook was published in 2004 and Vegetables was published in October 2006.

Sophie is one of the featured chefs in the BBC Food website's Get Cooking video console.

Ainsley Harriott is the charismatic, larger-than-life presenter of BBC Two's Ready Steady Cook, who has become known for his flamboyant style.

"My aim is to make cooking fun," says Ainsley. He first appeared on TV in 1993, and his career as a chef and entertainer has been built up over the past 25 years.

At 16, he was made junior trainee in a West End restaurant and later graduated to commis chef. It wasn't long before he got itchy feet and toured Europe as part of a musical duo (his show-business talents were probably inherited from his musician/actor dad, Chester). Once back in England, he teamed up with Paul Boross to form the Calypso Twins, gaining several TV credits, a record release and a prominent position on London's comedy circuit.

He also worked in top restaurants, as a caterer to celebrities, a singer and a comedian on radio and TV.

But cooking remained Ainsley's first love, so he pursued his career in top hotels and gained experience in all aspects of the craft. BBC Radio asked him to present More Nosh, Less Dosh, then a call from BBC TV's Good Morning with Anne and Nick led to Ainsley becoming the programme's resident chef. From there his popularity grew with Ready Steady Cook and Can't Cook, Won't Cook.

In 1997, Ainsley's first solo series, Ainsley's Barbecue Bible, took him around the world, sampling and cooking the very best open-air food. This was followed by Ainsley's Meals in Minutes, Ainsley's Big Cook Out and two successful series of Ainsley's Gourmet Express.

Ainsley's lifelong passion for cooking is a tribute to his mother, Peppy, who encouraged him to help cook for family and friends in what was always an open house in Balham, south London. Following the rules he learned from his mother, he advises people to "use fresh ingredients, have everything ready beforehand and never say 'it's too difficult'!" His philosophy is that simple dishes can be just as good as fancy ones.

Angela Hartnett is one of the most high-profile women in the restaurant world.

During her childhood, Angela's Italian grandmother and mother instilled in her an appreciation and love of good food, and after completing a degree in modern history at Cambridge Polytechnic she secured her first job in Barbados at the Sandy Lane hotel.

On returning to the UK, Angela joined the young team at Aubergine, cooking under Gordon Ramsay. Working alongside a predominantly male brigade, who predicted she would last no more than a week, Angela soon proved her worth during a gruelling year and saw the restaurant achieve its first Michelin star.

Six months followed in the kitchens of Zafferano before moving to L'Oranger where she worked under the watchful eye of Marcus Wareing, climbing the ranks to become sous-chef before moving with Marcus to Pétrus. Within seven months of it opening she had become head chef and helped the restaurant achieve a Michelin star. After launching Amaryllis in Scotland in April 2001, Angela turned her attention to the launch of Gordon Ramsay’s Verre in Dubai.

In 2002 she returned to Britain to open MENU and The Grill Room at The Connaught. In 2003 she won the Square Meal Guides' BMW Best New Restaurant award and in 2004 she won her first Michelin star. In August 2008 Angela opened Murano, a new fine-dining London restaurant with an Italian-influenced menu. Her latest project is overseeing the kitchens at York & Albany, a boutique-style hotel, deli and restaurant which opened in late September 2008.

In May 2004 Angela won a legion of new fans appearing alongside her mentor Gordon Ramsay in ITV's series Hell's Kitchen. Further television appearances include a one-hour programme on Tonight with Trevor McDonald advising children with poor diets on the benefits of healthy eating, presenting a Christmas series with GMTV and competing for Wales in the Great British Menu competition for BBC Two in 2006.

In January 2007, Angela was awarded an MBE for services to the industry. Her first book, Angela Hartnett's Cucina, Three Generations of Italian Family Cooking, was published in 2007.

Angela, along with John Burton Race, attempted to reform some of Britain's worst cooks in the BBC Two series Kitchen Criminals. She is appeared in the 2008 series of Great British Menu on BBC Two.

Nigel Haworth is head chef and co-proprietor of Northcote Manor hotel, in the Ribble Valley, Lancashire.

Nigel trained at Accrington and Rossendale Catering College in Lancashire. On leaving college, he worked at the Royal Berkshire in Ascot and the Grosvenor Hotel and The Ritz in London. In 1978 he began working in hotels in Switzerland, where he perfected his patisserie skills. On his return to the UK, he began lecturing at the college where he had trained, in order to pass on the skills he learned in Switzerland and to help improve the standards of restaurants in the region.

In 1984 he was offered the position of head chef at Northcote Manor, becoming joint managing director five years later. The restaurant was not well known at the time, but Nigel's hard work led to him being named Egon Ronay Chef of the Year in 1995. The following year, Nigel was awarded a Michelin star, which he has succeeded in retaining every year since.

Nigel is a member of the Masterchefs of Great Britain and a full member of the Academy of Culinary Arts. In 2004 he received the Prince Philip Medal, the City and Guilds' highest accolade, in recognition of his lifelong commitment to catering, and in 2006 he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Northern Hospitality Awards.

Nigel appeared in the 2008 series of Great British Menu on BBC Two, representing the North. He returned to the programme in 2009 for the fourth series, in which he cooked the winning main course, Lancashire hot pot, roast loin, pickled red cabbage, carrots and leeks.

Paul Heathcote was born in Bolton, Lancashire in 1960. Having enjoyed cooking in his early teens, he went to the Bolton Technical College after leaving high school to obtain catering qualifications.

During his years of apprenticeship Paul met and worked with Francis Coulson and Brian Sack at Sharrow Bay Hotel in Ullswater, Cumbria, Michel Bourdin at London's Connaught Hotel, and Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons in Oxfordshire, with whom he trained for 12 years. Soon after, he assumed the role of executive head chef at Broughton Park hotel in Preston.

At the age of 29, in 1990, Paul opened his own restaurant at Longridge in Preston, which was named Longridge in 1993 and won its second Michelin star in 1994. In 1995 he launched the first of four Simply Heathcote brasseries in Preston. In 2002, its basement became the first in the chain of Olive Press restaurants. He has also set up an outside catering arm and a cookery school in Manchester.

Paul appeared in the BBC Two series Food Poker in autumn 2007.

Mark has written a number of books on British food. His latest two, British Regional Food and British Seasonal Food, reflect his interest in sourcing local food and traditional recipes.

He won the Glenfiddich Newspaper Cookery Writer of the Year award in 2003 and was voted Best Cookery Writer by the Guild of Food Writers in 2005. British Seasonal Food won the Guild of Food Writers' Cookery Book of the Year award in 2009.

Mark moved to London from Dorset at the age of 18 for his first proper restaurant job in the staff canteen at the Hilton. He moved on to the Grosvenor House Hotel where he worked for two years, before leaving to join the Dorchester. Mark became head chef at the Candlewick Room Restaurant at the age of 22.

His next break came when his old fishmonger told him that Le Caprice was looking for a new head chef. Mark hadn’t heard of the restaurant at the time, but applied and got the job and eventually became chef-director of Caprice Holdings, which owns The Ivy and Le Caprice restaurants, both in London. He left Caprice Holdings in late 2007 and opened his own restaurant, Hix Oyster and Chop House, near London's Smithfield Market, in spring 2008.

Mark appeared in the second series of Great British Menu in spring 2007, winning the opportunity to cook both the main course and the dessert at the British ambassador's banquet in Paris.

Ken Hom was born in Tucson, Arizona, where his Cantonese parents lived after emigrating to the US in the 1920s.

As he grew up, he found American food unpalatable compared with his mother's cooking so she sent him to school with a flask of hot rice and stir-fried vegetables, much to the envy of his friends with their sandwich boxes.

At age 11, he went to work in his uncle's restaurant, which he remembers vividly: "I did everything and it became my culinary education." In 1969, he went to California. "Things were happening there and I wanted to be a flower child!"

He studied art history and French history but, after a year in France, he started giving cooking lessons to supplement his scholarship. His first lessons were held in the house of a wealthy congressman's wife where he taught how to make Italian pasta dishes, although he soon reverted to his passion for Chinese cooking.

His first book was about Chinese cookery techniques and this led to an article in the New York Times, which Ken sees as a turning point in his life. From there, he landed his first TV series, which was an almost instant success. He has gone from strength to strength with more than 12 books and four TV series. His passion for food is deeply ingrained in Chinese cooking; as the Chinese proverb states: "To the people, food is heaven."

Chris Horridge was appointed head chef at the Bath Priory hotel and restaurant in June 2005. Within his first six months he retained the restaurant's Michelin star. The restaurant has also been awarded three AA rosettes.

Chris did not initially set out to become a chef. It was in the period between being refused entry to the navy and being accepted into the RAF that he decided to train at catering college in Gainsborough. During his nine years of service with the Royal Air Force, Chris spent a lot of time developing ideas in the officers' mess kitchen.

Chris went on to work at Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons in Oxfordshire. It was then that he won the prestigious Caterer and Hotelkeeper Acorn Award, which recognises the achievements of chefs under the age of 30. After a stint as private chef to a Canadian entrepreneur, Chris took up the position at the Bath Priory, where he worked closely with head gardener and Chelsea Flower Show medal winner, Jane Moore, to develop menus using ingredients from the kitchen garden. Chris left the Bath Priory in early 2009 to oversee the three restaurants at Clarendon House in Berkshire - Waldo's, The Terrace and The Club Room.

Chris's unique style of cookery focuses on the importance of particular nutrients in foods - his dishes are often sugar, dairy and gluten-free, as well. He has spent years working together with university scientists and nutritionists to perfect his recipes and is a founding member of The Nutrition Research Group (NRG).

Chris was a finalist in the 2008 series of Great British Menu, representing the South-west.

Born in Taiwan to Chinese parents, Ching's food influences stem from the traditional cooking styles of her farming community grandparents, who lived in the countryside of southern Taiwan.

At the age of five, Ching and her family emigrated to South Africa where she was exposed to a wholly different diet and climate. Aged 11, Ching and her family moved to London.

After graduating with an economics degree, Ching set up her own food company, supplying food-service outlets with her products.

A self-taught cook, Ching appeared in her first TV series, Ching’s Kitchen, on UKTV Food in 2005 and has since appeared as a guest on ITV’s Saturday Cooks and Daily Cooks, UKTV’s Market Kitchen and Channel Five’s Cooking The Books. Ching first appeared on the BBC's Ready Steady Cook in June 2008 and she presented BBC Two's 2008 series Chinese Food Made Easy in summer 2008. She has also appeared on Saturday Kitchen on BBC One.

Ching’s first cookbook, China Modern, was published in 2006 and her second book, Chinese Food Made Easy, featuring recipes from the show of the same name, was published in 2008.