Jonathan Phang is a British food writer and

chef A chef is a trained professional cook and tradesman who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term ''chef de cuisine'' (), the director or head of a kitche ...

, best known for his television appearances.

Early life

Phang was born in London. His father was from China and his mother from

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

. He began his career as a fashion agent, working with models such as Naomi Campbell, Tyra Banks and Liv Tyler.

Marchioness tragedy

In 1989, Phang arranged a friend's birthday party on board a pleasure boat on the River Thames, which ended in disaster and the death of many of his friends after the boat was struck by a larger vessel and sank. Phang himself was briefly under water and survived by clinging to a beer barrel. In 2009, he made a documentary about the event for the BBC, called ''The Marchioness: A Survivor’s Story''.

Media career

Phang was a judge on ''

Britain's Next Top Model ''Britain's Next Top Model'' (or ''Britain & Ireland's Next Top Model'' 2011–13), often abbreviated as ''BNTM'', ''BINTM'', or ''Top Model'', is a British-Irish reality television show in which a number of women compete for the title of ''Bri ...

'', which received the RADAR Media Award for Best Factual Programming. He wrote the

cookbook A cookbook or cookery book is a kitchen reference containing recipes. Cookbooks may be general, or may specialize in a particular cuisine or category of food. Recipes in cookbooks are organized in various ways: by course (appetizer, first cour ...

s ''The Pepperpot Club: A Celebration of Caribbean Cuisine'' and ''Jonathan Phang's Caribbean Cookbook''. He has been featured on Food Network and SBS Food, and in '' Good Housekeeping'', the ''

Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet i ...

'', '' The Straits Times'', '' The New Paper'', ''

Travel Weekly Travel Weekly Group Ltd is a UK publishing and events company serving the travel industry, principally travel agents, tour operators and other suppliers. Its main brand is weekly business publication ''Travel Weekly'' and its associated onlin ...

'', and Radio Diva. He hosted the show ''Gourmet Trains''. In 2015, he was a presenter at the Wing Travel Awards ceremony.

Personal life

In the November 2018 issue of '' Gay Times'', Phang was featured as part of their cover, in collaboration with Gaysians. In an interview with the magazine, Phang spoke of his difficulties in coming out and realising he was gay "at about eight years old."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Phang, Jonathan British food writers British television presenters Living people Year of birth missing (living people) English people of Chinese descent English people of Guyanese descent British chefs Male chefs People from London LGBT chefs