The innovator

Nina Matsunaga, the Black Bull, Cumbria

After growing up in Germany to Japanese parents, Nina Matsunaga moved to London at 18 to study culinary arts management and went on to do a master’s in food policy. At 21, though, the call to cook became too strong. After stints at a bakery in Germany and restaurants in London, it was a move to Manchester, where she met her husband, James Ratcliffe, when her future career really started taking shape. As well as holding down day jobs, the couple started a weekend street-food business selling pies, preserves and chocolates at local farmers’ markets. Nina would bake everything and when they appeared at game shows, they specialised in unique game and meat dishes such as pulled rabbit with chipotle mayo or braised brisket with sorrel fritters, using local produce and ingredients they foraged themselves. With a new baby, two dogs and five ferrets to look after, the couple decided to take on The Three Hares in Sedbergh. It was an instant hit, with Nina’s food winning several awards and gaining a place in The Good Food Guide. They still own the café and bakery, which is close to the Yorkshire Dales, but split their time between there and The Black Bull, across the road, where Nina creates an innovative fusion of British, European and Asian dishes such as Mansergh Hall pork trotter, cardoon and cobnuts, and chocolate and red wine cake with quince layers and blue-cheese ice cream. Nina uses hyper-local ingredients, including North Sea fish, native-breed meat and vegetables dropped off by villagers or from her own garden. The pedigree Hereford beef is from grass-fed cattle chosen by a customer who hand-selects a cow for them and finishes them on his homegrown barley. Nina makes everything from scratch, from the Danish rye bread using beer ferment to her own tofu and miso with coffee-bean waste. She pickles and preserves seasonal produce and writes her menus depending on what arrives in the kitchen that day. theblackbullsedbergh.co.uk

Head judge Laura Rowe says: Nina couldn’t be more humble – saying that she’s only doing “what everyone does in the Lake District” – but she’s truly carving her own path. From jellyfish fritters with rhubarb ponzu, to cured beef powder used as seasoning for steak – this is pub cooking like you’ve never tasted it before.