John Torode

John Torode is a professional chef who runs Smiths of Smithfield, a four-floor space with several restaurants, ranging from an exclusive private dining room to a funky ground-floor café, located near London's Smithfield market. John is no stranger to television. As well as making numerous appearances on cookery and travel programmes, he was the resident chef on ITV’s This Morning with Richard and Judy for four years before being chosen to co-present MasterChef Goes Large for the BBC. John has worked in some of the most prestigious restaurant kitchens in London, such as Pont de La Tour, Quaglino's, Mezzo, and the Bluebird restaurant and food market in King’s Road. John, who was born in Australia, has been credited as being one of the main chefs to introduce Australasian food to the UK in the mid-1990s. He is also dedicated to sourcing high-quality, rare-breed meat, and to supporting organic food and the farming process. He has built relationships with many small farmers across the length of the UK. John was part of the judging panel for the Glenfiddich Food and Drink awards in 2002, and regularly contributes to Olive magazine. He is the author of three cookery books and is the weekly food columnist for Weekend magazine in The Mail on Saturday.