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Andy Lynes
Andy Lynes is a food, drink and travel writer. His work appears regularly in the national press including the Times, Telegraph and Independent and he is a contributing editor to Se...view moreAndy Lynes is a food, drink and travel writer. His work appears regularly in the national press including the Times, Telegraph and Independent and he is a contributing editor to Seasoned by Chefs magazine. He has reviewed restaurants for the Metro and the Guardian and is the former editor of the Metro food and drink pages. He has contributed to a number of books including two editions of Where Chefs Eat and the Oxford Companion to Food and is the author of the ebook Kingdom of Cooks: Conversations with Britain's New Wave Chefs and How to be a Chillihead: Inside the Red Hot World of the Chilli Cult, published by Portico in May 2015 .
He is a Masterchef semi-finalist and the only British competitor ever to participate in the prestigious Trophee des Amateurs Gourmands held in Lyon where he cooked in partnership with Michelin-starred chef Bruce Poole of Chez Bruce restaurant. The event was covered by the Independent and Le Figero in France.
He is a regular guest lecturer at Leith's School of Food and Wine and has run food writing workshops at the Bath Literary Festival and the Brighton Food and Drink Festival. He created and delivered the Food Media module of Brighton University's MA in Culinary Arts.
He is the co-founder of the Brighton Food Society, an affiliation of Brighton-based food and drink writers, bloggers and broadcasters which stages regular pop up events in the city including a popular food and drink quiz, cheese and beer matching and themed meals for up 50 people.
He was a judge on Channel 4's Iron Chef UK and UKFood TV's The People's Cookbook. and has appeared as a food expert on BBC Breakfast News. He has judged the World Cheese Awards, the British Pie Awarfs, Sommelier of the Year and has been a member of the Supreme Judging Panel of the Great Taste Awards alongside Alex James and Charles Campion. He has also been a member of the World's 50 Best Restaurants voting panel.
He is a former committee member of the Guild of Food Writers and edited the Guild’s magazine Savour. He was a founding affiliate of The eGullet Society for the Culinary Arts and Letters (egullet.org) and was nominated for a Glenfiddich award for his work on the site.
He has completed stages in numerous professional kitchens including Michelin-starred restaurants in London and once worked the cold appetiser section on a busy Saturday night at chef Tom Coohill’s acclaimed Ciboulette restaurant in Atlanta Georgia serving 100 customers.
He has interviewed many of the world's top chefs including Rene Redzepi, Heston Blumenthal, Jamie Oliver, Michel Roux Jr, Raymond Blanc, Alain Ducasse and Joel Robuchon among many others.
With a particular interest in North American cuisine, he has eaten his way around Atlanta, Chicago, Brooklyn, New York, Washington, New England, Las Vegas and Vancouver and from Los Angeles to San Francisco. He has visited many wine growing regions including Burgundy, Bordeaux, Alsace, Champagne, Languedoc-Roussillon, Douro, Napa Valley, Okanagen Valley and Tuscany.
His travel writing has taken him around the world with memorable trips including a whirlwind tour of Lima's restaurant scene with Martin Morales of London's Ceviche restaurant; a guided tour of Bangkok's Chinatown and Or Tor Kor market with chef and world renowned expert on Thai food David Thompson and a guided tour of the filming locations in Baltimore for the acclaimed TV series The Wire with the actor Robert F Chew who portrayed the character Prop Joe in the show.
The story of how Andy changed careers from BT auditor to food and drink writer is told in Sarah Wade and Carole Anne Rice’s bestselling book Find Your Dream Job.view less