When Ravneet Gill was 14 an astrologer told her mother she would work in the food industry. Ravneet was a fussy eater and at the time it seemed ridiculous, but after completing a psychology degree her passion for pastry and cooking led her to study at Le Cordon Bleu. She went on to work her way up the ranks in different sections all over London - most notably, St. JOHN, Llewelyn's, Jamavar, Black Axe Mangal and Wild by Tart.
In May 2018 she set up Countertalk; a platform designed to help connect chefs, provide education and promote equality and positive, nurturing working environments in the hospitality industry. Through Countertalk, Ravneet holds much-lauded food-based events and industry talks. In 2019 she was voted one of the 100 most influential people in the hospitality industry. She set up the pop-up bakery and online bakery school PUFF which delighted Londoners and saw queues around the block from their temporary location. The online cookery courses had over six thousand students signing up.
Her first book, The Pastry Chef's Guide: The secret to successful baking every time, was published by Pavilion in 2020 and is aimed at chefs and home bakers alike who FEAR baking. The message: pastry is easy. This is a straight-talking no-nonsense manual designed to become THE baking reference book on any cookery shelf. Ravneet has now published her second book, Sugar: I Love You, and her third, Baking for Pleasure: Comforting recipes to bring you joy, which was released December 2023.
Ravneet is a judge on Channel 4’s Junior Bake Off (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024) as well as joining the esteemed Michel Roux Jnr as a judge on 5 Star Kitchen, which launched on Channel 4 and Netflix in Summer 2023. Most recently she featured on the hit series, Remarkable Places To Eat, hosted by Fred Sirieix on Channel 4.
'Desserts are fundamental, and for this reason there should be a little room for a pastry chef to flap their wings like a butterfly, a little leeway for culinary cheekiness. Rav has this in spades.' - Fergus Henderson, St.JOHN, London
'Everything we love in the world of food right now.' - The Observer Food Monthly
Main image credit - Ellis Parrinder, Telegraph images credit - Max Hamilton