“My food hero would be someone like Elizabeth David, because I think what she did for Britain was amazing. Also David Thompson, an Australian chef who does Thai food and really understands the basis of it, has always been very inspiring.”

Australian and British chef and television presenter

John Douglas Torode is an Australian and British chef, restaurateur and television presenter. Born in Australia, he moved to the United Kingdom in the 1990s and became a familiar face on British food television, especially as a presenter of MasterChef from 2005 to 2025. He began work with the Conran Group's restaurants after arriving in the UK, later running restaurants of his own, including Luxe and Smiths of Smithfield. He has also written several cookbooks, among them Sydney to Seoul, My Kind of Food and John and Lisa's Kitchen with his wife, Lisa Faulkner. In 2022, he was appointed MBE for services to food and charity.