Heston Blumenthal Biography

Heston Blumenthal was born on 27 May 1966 in Shepherd's Bush, London, to Stephen and Celia Blumenthal. He has a sister named Alexis.

For his education, he went to Latymer Upper School, Hammersmith, St John's Church of England School, Lacey Green and finally John Hampden Grammar School, High Wycombe.

At the age of sixteen, a turning point in his life came when he visited a three Michelin-star restaurant ‘L'Oustau de Baumanière’ in Provence, France while on a family holiday. He was completely fascinated by the multisensory experience.

In 1984, Heston Blumenthal left school and began working as an apprentice at Raymond Blanc's Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons. However, he left after just a week, deciding instead to earn money and open his own restaurant.

The next decade saw him taking up relatively undemanding jobs as credit controller, photocopier salesman and repo man. While he worked during the day, he taught himself the essentials of French cuisine in the evenings.

As part of his research and learning, he made trips to France and visited restaurants, vineyards, cheese makers, butchers and artisanal product producers.

He spent a considerable period of time reading books, and one book that had an immense impact on him was On Food and Cooking – The Science and Lore of the Kitchen by Harold McGee. It was this book that set him on a journey to scientific approach to cooking.

In 1995, Heston finally managed to put together enough money to start his own restaurant. His restaurant, The Fat Duck, opened in what was earlier a rundown pub in Bray, Berkshire.

The restaurants soon became popular and earned positive words from food critics like Matthew Fort and Fay Maschler. Just nine years after it opening, it became three Michelin star restaurant.

It further received appreciation when on its tenth anniversary, it topped the list of the Restaurant Magazine’s 50 Best Restaurants in the World.

In 2002, Heston fronted a six-part television documentary series Kitchen Chemistry with Heston Blumenthal on Discovery Science. The same year, his book Family Food: A New Approach to Cooking was published.

In 2004, he bought The Hinds Head in Bray. The place today serves classic British dishes and was named Pub of the Year in 2011 by Michelin Pub Guide.

In 2006-2007, he presented two series of In Search of Perfection for BBC. The show became extremely popular and was accompanied by a companion book with the same name for each series.

Between 2008 and 2010, he published three books The Fat Duck Cookbook (2008), Total Perfection: In Search of Total Perfection (2009) and Heston's Fantastical Feasts (2010).

In 2009, a four-episode TV documentary series Big Chef Takes on Little Chef saw him attempting to boost sales of the iconic British restaurant chain, Little Chef by reworking on the menu.

The year 2009-2010 also saw him in two seasons of television documentary Heston's Feasts wherein he prepared unique feasts for celebrity guests.

In 2009, he gained the honour of cooking for the Queen at Windsor Castle for the first time. In 2012, he was yet again called upon to prepare picnic meals for participants in Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

The beginning of 2011 saw him opening another restaurant ‘Dinner by Heston Blumenthal’ in London. This was his first restaurant outside the Bray area and yet again became popular very soon. By 2013, it was amongst the top ten best restaurants in the world and by 2014 two Michelin Star restaurant.

In 2011-2012, Heston Blumenthal was seen in three shows of Channel4 – Heston's Mission Impossible, How To Cook Like Heston and Heston's Fantastical Food. The first show saw him applying his cooking skills to improve the quality of food served in various industries like the British Airways and Cineworld Cinemas.

The second show saw him infusing his own magic into home cooking. The third show saw him cooking a variety of food, but in mega sizes; like a giant Christmas pudding.

Two more cookbooks – Heston Blumenthal At Home and Historic Heston – authored by him were published in 2011 and 2013, respectively.

The year 2014 saw him appearing in yet another Channel4 series Great British Food and opening his new restaurant, ‘The Perfectionists' Café’, in Heathrow Airport's Terminal 2.

In 2015, The Fat Duck restaurant shifted temporarily to Melbourne, Australia; however, later it became permanent and is now known as Dinner by Heston Blumenthal.

In 2019, he took up a challenge thrown by restaurant critic, Giles Coren, to take his restaurant ‘The Fat Duck’ back to 2001 and create a magical feast in the show Heston's Marvellous Menu: Back to the Noughties.

In 2020, he took on the mantle of a judge for the Channel4 series Crazy Delicious in which three cooks compete to create the best feast.

Heston has also extensively written columns for other publications like The Guardian, T2, The Times and GQ.

Heston Blumenthal is regarded as a pioneer of multi-sensory cooking. Through his research, he discovered that what we hear, smell, see, and touch has an immense effect on the way we respond to our food. His dish – Sound of the Sea – is a perfect example of this wherein seafood, kelp, seaweed and edible sand are presented like a seashore and are clubbed with the sound of seagulls and the ocean waves via an ipod in a conch shell.

He is known for experimenting with flavour pairings based on the molecular similarities between different ingredients. The best examples of this are white chocolate with caviar and salmon with liquorice.

He is known for his use of liquid nitrogen in his cooking. The best example of this nitro-poached mousse palate cleanser.

Heston Blumenthal has won the chef award numerous times – The Catey Awards (2004), Good Food Guide (2001) and GQ Magazine (2004, 2010/2011).

He was made an OBE (Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) in 2006 for his services to British Gastronomy.

His scientific approach to cooking has also brought him numerous honorary degrees including Doctor of Science degree (Reading University), Honorary Fellowship (Royal Society of Chemistry), Master of Science (Bristol University) and Doctor of Science (London University).

In 2013, he was given the personal coat of arms by the College of Arms.

In 1989, Blumenthal wedded Zanna. The couple remained together for 22 years before separating. They have three children together – Jack, Jessie and Joy.

In 2018, he married American French estate agent Stephanie Gouveia.