Great Women on Great British Menu 2019

UPDATE 17th May 2019 – We have now interviewed the following amazing women about appearing on Great British Menu –  Sabrina Gidda of Allbright, Emily Scott of St Tudy Inn, Lorna McNee of Restaurant Andrew Fairlie, Gleneagles,  Samira Effa formerly of The Alimentum and Cindy Challoner formerly of The Classroom. They all performed amazingly and did their regions proud.  Lorna McNee not only made it through to the final banquet on 17th May but was also crowned Champion of Champions there!

We are delighted that Great British Menu (GBM) is returning to our screens on 20th March 2019 for series 14. The BBC Two show puts the nation’s most talented chefs to the test. At Women in the Food Industry we very pleased to see a strong female line up in the 24 chefs from across Britain who will be competing to serve their dish at the final banquet. This year GBM has a new look, a new time slot of 8pm, a new location – Birmingham –  and a new format of three hour long shows running from Wednesday to Friday each week. With a Sex Pistols inspired logo, it’s all very rock and roll as it celebrates the 50th anniversary of the last time The Beatles played live together.

Veteran Judge Angela Hartnett will be on Great British Menu’s opening week

Julie Shaw, Commissioning Editor, says: “The team in Birmingham have made this year’s Great British Menu bigger and better than ever. The theme – celebrating 50 years of British pop music – has brought out the best in the competing chefs and we see some exceptionally creative and visually spectacular dishes. If you love food and drama, this is the show for you.”

Judge Andi Oliver (who also chaired our Women in Food and Drink panel for International Women’s Day celebrations) said “It’s all kicking off in the BEST possible way over here at GBM headquarters! We’ve moved to beautiful Stratford upon Avon in the heart of the glorious Midlands and the brief this year is just sensational. We’re celebrating the excellence and worldwide knockout success of British music. The passionate and dynamic new talented chefs in the kitchen this year perfectly mirror the inspiring exciting world of British music and holding the banquet at Abbey Road studios is the spectacular icing on the top of a very big and very delicious cake.”

We look forward to talking to all of the female contestants on the show – including Sabrina Gidda Executive Chef at Allbright (host of our very first Women In the Food Industry event) who is appearing on GBM for a second year after narrowly missing out on representing her region. We’ll discover what inspired their dishes, what they think of the new format and what it’s like working under the pressures of a new kitchen with a TV crew filming their every move.

UPDATE – We have now interviewed the following amazing women about appearing on Great British Menu –  Sabrina Gidda of Allbright, Emily Scott of St Tudy Inn, Lorna McNee of Restaurant Andrew Fairlie, Gleneagles,  Samira Effa formerly of The Alimentum and Cindy Challoner formerly of The Classroom. They all performed amazingly and did their regions proud. Good luck to Lorna McNee who made it through to finals week (starting 13th May) and we’ll be following her progress to see if she makes the banquet on Friday!