Heston Blumenthal

Heston Marc BlumenthalOBEHonFRSC(/ˈbluːmənθɔːl/; born 27 May 1966) is an Englishcelebrity chef, TV personality and food writer. His restaurants includethe Fat DuckinBray, Berkshire, a three-Michelin-starrestaurant that was named the world's best by theWorld's 50 Best Restaurantsin 2005.
Blumenthal is regarded as a pioneer of multi-sensory cooking, food pairing and flavour encapsulation. He came to public attention with unusual recipes, such asbacon-and-egg ice creamandsnailporridge. His recipes fortriple-cooked chipsand soft-centredScotch eggshave been widely imitated. He has advocated a scientific approach to cooking, for which he has been awarded honorary degrees from the universities of Reading, Bristol and London and made anhonorary fellowof theRoyal Society of Chemistry.
Blumenthal's public profile was boosted by a number of television series, most notably forChannel 4, as well as a product range for theWaitrosesupermarket chain introduced in 2010. Blumenthal also ownsDinner, a two-Michelin-star restaurant in London, and a pub in Bray,the Hind's Head, with one Michelin star.
Heston Marc Blumenthal was born inShepherd's Bush, London, on 27 May 1966, to aJewishfather born inSouthern Rhodesiaand an English mother whoconverted to Judaism.His surname comes from a great-grandfather fromLatviaand means 'flowered valley' (or 'bloom-dale'), in German.
Blumenthal was raised inPaddington, and attendedLatymer Upper Schoolin Hammersmith;St John's Church of England School in Lacey Green, Buckinghamshire; andJohn Hampden Grammar School, High Wycombe.
His interest in cooking began at the age of sixteen on a family holiday toProvence, France, when he was taken to the 3-Michelin-starred restaurantL'Oustau de Baumanière.He was inspired by the quality of the food and "the whole multi-sensory experience: the sound of fountains and cicadas, the heady smell of lavender, the sight of the waiters carving lamb at the table".When he learned to cook, he was influenced by the cookbook seriesLes recettes originales, with French chefs such asAlain Chapel.
When he left school at eighteen, Blumenthal began an apprenticeship atRaymond Blanc'sLe Manoir aux Quat' Saisonsbut left after a week's probation.Over the next ten years he worked in a "relatively undemanding series of jobs – credit controller, repo man"during the day, teaching himself the French classical repertoire in the evenings. A pivotal moment came when readingOn Food and Cooking: the Science and Lore of the KitchenbyHarold McGeein the mid-1980s. This challenged kitchen practices such as searing meat to seal in the juices, and it encouraged Blumenthal to "adopt a totally different attitude towards cuisine that at its most basic boiled down to: question everything".
In 1995, Blumenthal bought a run-down pub inBray, Berkshire, the Ringers, and re-opened it asthe Fat Duck.It was initially staffed only by Blumenthal and a dishwasher.It served meals in the style of a Frenchbistro, such as lemon tarts and steak and chips. Blumenthal later said that science had already begun to influence the cooking at this stage, as already on the menu were histriple-cooked chips, which were developed to stop the potato from going soft.The Fat Duck came close to going bankrupt, and Blumenthal sold his house, his car and many of his possessions to keep it open.
After four years, the Fat Duck was awarded its first Michelin star in 1999.In 2001, it was awarded a second Michelin star and was named restaurant of the year bythe Automobile Association.In 2002, Blumenthal opened a second, short-lived restaurant in Bray, the Riverside Brasserie, selling many of the Fat Duck's earlier dishes at reduced prices. TheGuardiancriticJay Raynergave it a positive review, describing it as "truly stunning value".
In 2004, the Fat Duck became the third restaurant in the UK to receive three Michelin stars, after theWaterside Inn, also in Bray, andRestaurant Gordon Ramsayin London.At the time he received his third star, Blumenthal said it was the closest he had been to bankruptcy, with enough money only to cover the following week's staff wages.Blumenthal acquiredthe Hind's Head, also in Bray, in 2004. The building was a 15th-century tavern; it now serves traditional seasonal cuisine and historic British dishes. In 2011, it was named the Michelin Pub Guide's Pub of the Year.
In January 2011, Blumenthal opened his first restaurant outside Bray, Dinner, at theMandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London. Historians helped to develop the restaurant's dishes from historic British recipes.Dinnerwas awarded its first Michelin star in 2012.It was voted the 7th best restaurant in the world in 2013.It received a second Michelin Star in the 2014 Michelin Guide.
In June 2014, Blumenthal announced a new restaurant, the Perfectionists' Cafe, inHeathrow Airport.In 2015, the Fat Duck was temporarily relocated toMelbourne, Australia, while the Bray restaurant was refurbished.Upon reaching the end of its temporary opening, the restaurant became a permanent Melbourne branch of Dinner, although not owned by him.
In 2002, Blumenthal made a series of six half-hour television programmes,Kitchen Chemistry with Heston Blumenthal,which was transmitted onDiscovery Sciencealong with a bookKitchen Chemistry, published by theRoyal Society of ChemistryDuring 2004–07, he presented two BBC series calledHeston Blumenthal: In Search of PerfectionandHeston Blumenthal: Further Adventures In Search of Perfection.
Blumenthal moved from the BBC toChannel 4in March 2008, joining the celebrity chefsJamie Oliver,Hugh Fearnley-WhittingstallandGordon Ramsay. In January 2009, a three-part series of television programmes on Channel 4 covered his efforts to revamp the strugglingLittle Chefroadside restaurant chain, using a trial location on theA303 roadatPopham.Little Chef extended Blumenthal's menu to 12 branches, but removed them in 2013.
In March 2009, Blumenthal presented a television series,Heston's Feasts, showing themed dinner banquets. A second series began in 2010.From 22 February 2011, Channel 4 began airingHeston's Mission Impossible, in which he attempts to improve lacklustre food served in various industries.In January 2012,How To Cook Like Hestonaired onChannel 4. It was aimed at home cooks and featured some of the more approachable techniques employed by Blumenthal.
In November 2012, Blumenthal presented the Channel 4 programmHeston's Fantastical Food. He presented a new 2014 series,Heston's Great British Food, again commissioned by Channel 4.In 2020, Blumenthal appeared as a judge in theChannel 4seriesCrazy Delicioushosted byJayde Adams, alongside chefsNiklas EkstedtandCarla Hall.In 2021, he was a judge in the French version ofTop Chef, proposing a food pairing test.In July 2022, he was a guest judge on the final episode of theAustralianMasterchef.
In 2010, Blumenthal entered a partnership to create products for the supermarket chainWaitrose. Blumenthal's initial products were unsuccessful, but hisChristmas puddingwith an embedded orange, released in 2010, sold out quickly; the puddings were soon being sold oneBayfor hundreds of pounds.His other products included a bloody Mary prawn cocktail, sherry-and-balsamic vinegar Christmas pudding, and puff pastrymince pieswith pine sugar dusting.The range inspired unusual products from other supermarkets, such as a Christmas pudding withpopping candyand chilli chocolate sauce fromAldi.In 2023, Waitrose ended the contract with Blumenthal, seeking to focus on its in-house range.A source from Waitrose described Blumenthal as "unpredictable".
He has experimented withfoodpairing, in which recipes are created by identifying molecular similarities between different ingredients and bringing these together in a dish. One of the first such was Blumenthal's white chocolate withcaviar. He created unusual combinations, including Roast Foie Gras "Benzaldehyde" andsalmonpoached in aliquoricegel accompanied byasparagus. While many of these unexpected combinations have been critically well received, Blumenthal himself has pointed out the limitations of such an approach, insisting that although foodpairing is a good tool for creativity, it is still no substitute for the chef's culinary intuition. ‘The molecular profile of a single ingredient is so complex that even if it has several compounds in common with another, there are still as many reasons why they won't work together as reasons why they will.’
From the late 1990s, scientific understanding, precision and technology became characteristic of modern cuisine, in so-called "molecular gastronomy". On 10 December 2006 Blumenthal andHarold McGeepublished a "Statement on the 'New Cookery'" in theObserverto summarise the tenets of this cuisine. In it they emphasise that openness to novel techniques and ingredients can be used as a means to achieve excellent dishes, but they value tradition. Novel techniques and ingredients should only be used when they contribute to a dish. For example,liquid nitrogenshould not be used for the sake of novelty. And that progress can come from collaboration, for example with chemists and psychologists.
Blumenthal calls his scientific approach to cuisine "multi-sensory cooking", arguing that eating is "one of the few activities we do that involves all of the senses simultaneously".One of the catalysts for this culinary approach was a visit at 16 to the restaurantL'Oustau de Baumanièrein Provence, which at the time had three Michelin stars.The trip prompted a passion for cooking, above all because of "the whole multisensory experience: the sound of fountains and cicadas, the heady smell of lavender, the sight of the waiters carving lamb at the table".One of the other main inspirations for a multi-sensory style of cooking was the lack of space and opulence at the Fat Duck. "Places like the Baumaniere had a view and a history and architecture that took its diners to a world of beauty and indulgence. The Fat Duck didn't have any of that, so it had had to capture the diners’ imagination in a different way – taking them to the mysteries of flavour perception and multi sensory delight."
The event that cemented Heston's interest in this area was his creation of a crab ice cream to accompany a crab risotto. "People had difficulty accepting Crab Ice Cream, yet if it was renamed "Frozen Crab Bisque", people found it more acceptable and less sweet.The phenomenon was subsequently researched by Martin Yeomans and Lucy Chambers of theUniversity of Sussex, who served test subjects a version of Blumenthal's ice cream flavoured with smoked salmon, but told one group they would be tasting ice cream and the other that they would be tasting a frozen savoury mousse. Although all consumed identical food, those eating what they thought was savoury mousse found the flavour acceptable while those eating what they thought was ice cream found the taste salty and generally disgusting.For Blumenthal, this confirmed his ideas. "If something as simple as a name could make a dish appear more or less salty ... what effect might other cues have on flavours and our appreciation of them?"
Since that point, exploring the sensory potential of food – via both research and the creation of new dishes – has been an ongoing and characteristic strand of Heston's cooking.  In 2004, working on a commission for the photographerNick Knight, he created a Delice of Chocolate containing popping candy and took the imaginative step of arranging for diners to listen on headphones to the little explosions it made as they ate – the first time such a thing had been done.With Professor Charles Spence, head of theCrossmodal Research Laboratory at Oxford Universityhe has conducted several experiments into how our sense of sound can affect perception of flavour. In one experiment, test subjects consumed an oyster in two-halves: the first half was accompanied by maritime sounds, the second by farmyard sounds, and they were then asked to rate pleasantness and intensity of flavour. It was found that oysters eaten while listening to seaside sounds were considered significantly more pleasant. In another, similar experiment, test subjects tastedbacon-and-egg ice creamwhile listening to sounds of bacon sizzling, followed by tasting it while listening to the sound of chickens clucking. The sizzling bacon sound made the bacon flavour appear more intense.
In Blumenthal's view, experiments such as these show that our appreciation of food is subjective, determined by information sent by the senses to the brain: "the ways in which we make sense of what we are eating and decide whether we like it or not depend to a large extent on memory and contrast. Memory provides us with a range of references – flavours, tastes, smells, sights, sounds, emotions – that we draw on continually as we eat."His dishes, therefore, tend to be designed to appeal to the senses in concert, and through this to trigger memories, associations and emotions.Thus the Nitro-poachedGreen Teaand Lime Mousse on theFat Duckmenu is served with spritz of ‘lime grove’ scent from an atomiser; and the Jelly ofQuaildish includes among its tableware a bed of oak moss, as well as being accompanied by a specially created scent of oak moss that is dispersed at the table by means of dry ice.
The most complete expression to date of hismultisensoryphilosophy, however, is probably the dish ‘Sound of the Sea’, which first appeared on the Fat Duck menu in 2007. In this, ingredients with a distinctly oceanic character and flavour – dried kelp, hijiki seaweed, baby eels, razor clams, cockles, mussels, sea urchins – are fashioned into a course that has the appearance of the shore's edge, complete with sea ‘spume’ and edible sand. It is served on a glass-topped box containing real sand, and accompanied by headphones relaying the sounds of seagulls and the sea by means of a smalliPod(placed in a conch shell) and earphones. The idea, according to Blumenthal, was one ‘of creating a world, of transporting the diner – through sound, through food, through an integrated appeal to the senses – to another place’.
Blumenthal's most famous signature dishes includetriple-cooked chips, snail porridge,bacon-and-egg ice creamand parsnip cereal, mock turtle soup (which combines a multi-sensory experience with historical references), Meat Fruit, and his Sweet Shoppetit fours.
He has pioneered the use of sound as part of the dining experience with his Sound of the Sea dish where diners listen to a recording of the seaside – crashing waves with occasional sounds of distant seagulls, children's laughter and the horn of a ship, while they eat a dish of king fish, konbu cured halibut, ballotine of mackerel with 5 different seaweeds, sea jelly beans and monks beard served on "sand" made from tapioca starch, toasted Japanese breadcrumbs, miso paste and dried seaweeds.
Blumenthal is also known for his use of scenteddry ice. Blumenthal and his restaurant "The Fat Duck" have been credited as instigators of the bacon dessert "craze". He was preparing sweet and savoury bacon-and-egg ice cream as early as 2004, and news "about the intriguingly odd confection quickly spread through the food world."
Blumenthal uses British history in his dishes. He became interested in historical cooking in the late 1990s upon obtaining a copy ofThe Vivendier, a translation of a fifteenth-century cookery manuscript that contained unusual recipes, such as a chicken that appears roasted but wakes up as it is served. He said "I'd had little idea the cooking of the past could be so playful, audacious and creative."
Following this, he attended an Oxford Symposium of Food and Cookery where he met the food historians Richard Fitch, who works for Historic Royal Palaces and Marc Meltonville. Later he met a third food historian, Ivan Day and, in consultation with these three, began developing dishes inspired by recipes in historical British cookbooks. The first completed dish based on a historic recipe was Quaking Pudding, which is now on the menu at the Hinds Head. This was followed by Beef Royal and Chocolate Wine, which featured on the Fat Duck menu. The opening of Dinner by Heston Blumenthal presented him with far greater scope for historical cooking, and its menu is composed solely of dishes inspired by the recipes of the past. His 2013 bookHistoric Hestonis a collection of historical recipes that have appeared on the menus of Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, the Fat Duck and the Hinds Head.
In 2009, for a private party held during Ascot week, Blumenthal was invited to cook a meal forQueen Elizabeth IIatWindsor Castle. The menu included baked salmon, strawberry gateau and a starter, composed to look like a bowl of fruit, that consisted of offal and sweetbreads.He was selected to provide the picnic meal for participants inQueen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations,and was a guest in the Royal Box at the Queen's Diamond Jubilee concert in June 2012.
In 2004, Blumenthal won the Chef Award atthe Catey Awards, joining the likes of Gordon Ramsay,Phil Howardand Raymond Blanc.In January 2006, Blumenthal was appointed anOBEin the New Years Honours List for his services to British Gastronomy.
He has been awarded honorary degrees for his scientific approach to cooking.In July 2006, Blumenthal was presented with an honorary Doctor of Science degree by Reading University in recognition of his unique scientific approach to food and long-standing relationship with the University's School of Food Biosciences.Also in July 2006, Blumenthal was the first chef to be awarded an Honorary Fellowship by the Royal Society of Chemistry.Blumenthal received an honorary Master of Science from Bristol University in 2007.In December 2013, Blumenthal was presented with an honorary Doctor of Science degree by the University of London, recognising his pioneering research and achievements in his field.
In June 2013, theCollege of Armsgranted Blumenthal a personal coat of arms.
Heston's restaurants have received many awards, including "Best Restaurant in the World".
Blumenthal married his first wife, Zanna, in 1989, with whom he had three children.The couple separated in 2011 and divorced in 2017.Blumenthal stated, 'a huge part' of the success of the Fat Duck is attributed to Zanna, as she cared for their family while he was working.
Between 2011 and 2015, Blumenthal engaged in a relationship with the American food writerSuzanne Pirret.In 2017, he had a daughter with Stephanie Gouveia, a French estate agent whom he met that year. The family moved to France in 2018.In 2023, Blumenthal announced their separation.Blumenthal married the French entrepreneur Melanie Ceysson in March 2023.
Blumenthal is Jewish.He was diagnosed withAttention deficit hyperactivity disorder(ADHD) in 2017 and withbipolar disorderin 2023.In a 2024 appearance on the BBCOne Show,he said had struggled with suicidal thoughts and had beensectioned. He credited Ceysson for saving his life.
As well as writing books, Blumenthal has written columns forThe Guardian, T2,The TimesandGQ.  Along with scientists on the faculty of Reading University, he has co-written an academic paper on the taste and flavour of tomatoes called "Differences in Glutamic Acid and 5'-Ribonucleotide Contents between Flesh and Pulp of Tomatoes and the Relationship with Umami Taste".