English chef, writer and broadcaster Allegra McEvedy was BOTD in 1970. Born in London to a middle-class family, she was educated at private schools, forgoing university to study cookery at the Cordon Bleu school in London. She worked at a series of restaurants in London, becoming head chef at the Conran restaurant The Cow aged 24. She moved to the United States in the 1990s, working at restaurants in New York and San Francisco and catering for celebrity clients including Robert De Niro and President Bill Clinton. Disillusioned with cooking “posh food for rich people”, she returned to London to work for community restaurant The Tabernacle, publishing her first cookery book The Good Cook in 2000. In 2004, she co-founded Leon, a “slow food” chain restaurant promoting healthy alternatives to fast food. An immediate success, Leon was voted the best new restaurant in Great Britain at the the Observer Food Monthly Awards, rapidly expanding across the country and generating a series of cookbooks. McEvedy left the business in 2009 to work full-time as a cookery writer and broadcaster. Openly gay since forever, McEvedy entered into a civil partnership with long-term partner Susi Smither in 2006, separating in 2012. She later formed a relationship with food blogger Jack Monroe, 18 years her junior, announcing their engagement before separating in 2015. Her current relationship status is unknown.