MY LIGHT BULB MOMENT
AT 36, Sophie Michell is the youngest female executive chef in the UK. She lives in London with her fiance, Eoin, 42.
THE women in my family have always been fantastic cooks, and it was at my grandmother’s elbow that I first learnt to bake. Even now, the smell of a Victoria sponge in the oven takes me back to the warmth and safety of her kitchen in Cheshire.
My great-grandmother, Mary, was a cook for the Duke of Westminster in the Twenties, creating dishes for the Queen Mother. Grandma and I used Mary’s old scales to make fairy cakes with blue and green icing.
But it wasn’t until my early teens, and a period of stress in my life, that I realised how important her kitchen really was to me.
I was 13 when I met my dad for the first time. My mother tried to give it another go with him, but it didn’t work, and a year later they split up.
I was confused and stressed, and for a while my mother took me out of school to go travelling with her. Back at home, no older than 15, I went to visit my grandma and had a sudden epiphany.
I’d seen how big the world was and how unpredictable life could be. The women in my family — the cooks — were the reliable ones.
I realised what made me happiest wasn’t pop music or fashion or any of those normal teenage things — it was cooking. Weeks later, without taking my GCSEs, I left school to work in restaurants.
People told me I was narrowing my options — but the buzz of those professional kitchens instantly confirmed I had done the right thing.
I feel nothing but lucky to have discovered my passion so early in life. After working at a top London restaurant for five years, I’m now launching my own catering business.
I’ve cooked for models, film stars and royalty — Leonardo DiCaprio and Princes William and Harry were a highlight. But nothing’s ever quite beaten baking cakes with Grandma.
Chef On A Diet by Sophie Michell (Kyle Books, £14.99) is out now.