About 12 years ago, Anthea Stephenson cooked an ambitious Mother’s Day meal that, she laughs, “was 80 per cent awful”. But, that lunch was a watershed for the now 37-year-old.
Anthea’s family loved the food and, knowing she was dissatisfied working in corporate recruitment, encouraged her to finally give cooking her full attention. Growing up in Croydon, inspired by her mum’s Jamaican dishes, Anthea had been “messing around in the kitchen since I was very small.” Then, it was time to get serious.
A year training at Leiths school led to almost a decade cheffng in London kitchens, most notably six years at the River Café. That time, says Anthea, “connected me in a meaningful way with producers; where our food comes from, working with the seasons and, tied in with that, from a sustainability narrative, we
