Monica Galetti receives Rose Gray Food Pioneer Award

 

Since 2000, Monica has worked under Michel Roux Jr at the two-Michelin-starred London restaurant Le Gavroche, where she manages 16 men. ‘It’s definitely not a place for make-up and high heels,’ she laughs.
 

Since having her daughter, Anais, Monica has worked four days a week at Le Gavroche, getting up at 5.30am – as well as presenting on MasterChef, and writing her first cookbook, Monica’s Kitchen. It’s a punishing schedule, but she wouldn’t change a thing. ‘I’m determined to have the best of both worlds,’ she says.
 

What the judges said:

Sam Baker: ‘Monica’s an amazing woman and a bit of an unsung hero. She’s made it in the man’s world of the kitchen and TV, and she did a radical thing by going back to work part time after her child was born.’