About Hayley Edwards - Roving Chef
Roving Chef London was launched in early 2007 when Hayley decided that it would be a great idea to actually teach people how to cook in their own homes, so they can learn on a one-to-one basis at their own pace and what they want to learn – why make life harder than it needs to be?
Hayley Edwards, The Roving Chef was born in Kent (just after the wheel was invented) and then moved with her family to a small village just outside Ipswich in Suffolk where she went to the Convent of Jesus & Mary, then on to to Suffolk College where she studied Hotel & Catering Management. Her first job was at Le Talbooth at Dedham, Essex where she worked firstly as a waitress and then as a receptionist under the watchful eye of the late Gerald Milsom.
She learnt all of her basic skills by trial and error..... (a lot of the latter!! A particular embarrasing story about undercooked gratin dauphinoise springs to mind) from her French English Mother from a very early age. Baking cakes was the thing to do on a Saturday afternoon.
After a nine month work experience in Paris in 1990 working at the Montparanasse Hotel she moved to London, where she worked at places such as Lanagan’s Brasserie, on reception and then spent 7 years working for Marco Pierre White (as his Assistant!!).
After leaving Mr White (and having being inspired by the chefs notably people like Tim Payne and of course Marco himself) she moved on to cook Directors lunches in the City as well as cooking for private clients and friends. She has also built up a very large list of clients for her Christmas cakes and mince pies – especially the ones who are on gluten-free diets.
Hayley (Roving Chef) also teaches one-to-one lessons several times a week. At the beginning of 2007 she had a cookery column for the local evening paper in Ipswich and contributes to various magazines.
Towards the end of 2008 Hayley did some filming for Tiscali, showing how to cook simple comfort food dishes such as Shepherd’s Pie, Apple crumble and beef and prune casserole (external link).
Roving Chef London sells various cakes and pastries to several small cafes in central London and has a regular cake stall every Sunday at Cheshire street Market, Brick Lane, London E2.
Every 5 weeks she takes the reins as head cook (voluntarily) for a charity called Food Chain (external link) which provides lunches and light meals every Sunday to people infected with HIV and AIDs.
Roving Chef ran in the British 10K on 5th July 2009 for The Food Chain.
Hayley is also a contributor to 'Out' Magazine - read her Valentines' Day column Feb 2009, available as a download from Out Magazine - February 2009 Issue (external link).
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