Jean-Christophe Novelli (; born 22 February 1961) is a French

celebrity chef A celebrity chef is a kitchen chef who has become a celebrity. Today, chefs often become celebrities by presenting cookery advice and demonstrations, usually through the media of television and radio, or in printed publications. While television ...

Early life

Novelli was born in

Arras Arras ( , ; pcd, Aro; historical nl, Atrecht ) is the prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais Departments of France, department, which forms part of the regions of France, region of Hauts-de-France; before the regions of France#Reform and mergers of ...

, in the

Pas-de-Calais Pas-de-Calais (, " strait of Calais"; pcd, Pas-Calés; also nl, Nauw van Kales) is a department in northern France named after the French designation of the Strait of Dover, which it borders. It has the most communes of all the departments ...

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

in northern France, in 1961. He left school at 14 and worked in a bakery before, at the age of 20, becoming a personal chef to the

Rothschild family The Rothschild family ( , ) is a wealthy Ashkenazi Jewish family originally from Frankfurt that rose to prominence with Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744–1812), a court factor to the German Landgraves of Hesse-Kassel in the Free City of F ...

Career

Novelli moved to Britain in 1983, working in several establishments including the Chewton Glen Hotel in

New Milton New Milton is a market town in southwest Hampshire, England. To the north is in the New Forest and to the south the coast at Barton-on-Sea. The town is equidistant between Lymington and Christchurch, 6 miles (10 km) away. History Ne ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

, later running

Keith Floyd Keith Floyd (28 December 1943 – 14 September 2009) was a British celebrity Chef, cook, restaurateur, television personality and Gastronomy, "gastronaut" who hosted cooking shows for the BBC and published many books combining cookery and t ...

's Maltster's Arms restaurant in

Totnes Totnes ( or ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish at the head of the estuary of the River Dart in Devon, England, within the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is about west of Paignton, about west-so ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

. He won the first of four

Michelin Michelin (; ; full name: ) is a French multinational tyre manufacturing company based in Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes ''région'' of France. It is the second largest tyre manufacturer in the world behind Bridgestone and la ...

stars as Chef Patron at Gordleton Mill in

Lymington Lymington is a port town on the west bank of the Lymington River on the Solent, in the New Forest district of Hampshire, England. It faces Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, to which there is a car ferry service operated by Wightlink. It is within the ...

, Hampshire and was awarded Best Outstanding Dessert by

Egon Ronay Egon Miklos Ronay (24 July 1915 – 12 June 2010) was a Hungarian-born food critic who wrote and published a famous series of guides to British and Irish restaurants and hotels in the 1950s and 1960s. These guidebooks are credited with raisin ...

before becoming head chef at the

Four Seasons Hotel Four Seasons Hotels Limited, trading as Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, is an international luxury hotel and resort company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Four Seasons currently operates more than 100 hotels and resorts worldwide.D ...

Hyde Park Corner Hyde Park Corner is between Knightsbridge, Belgravia and Mayfair in London, England. It primarily refers to its major road junction at the southeastern corner of Hyde Park, that was designed by Decimus Burton. Six streets converge at the junc ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. In 1996 he founded his restaurant, '' Maison Novelli'', in

Clerkenwell Clerkenwell () is an area of central London, England. Clerkenwell was an ancient parish from the mediaeval period onwards, and now forms the south-western part of the London Borough of Islington. The well after which it was named was redisco ...

, London. He opened further restaurants in London, France and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. Novelli also expanded into the

gastro-pub A gastropub or gastro pub is a pub that serves gourmet comfort food. The term was coined in the 1990s, though similar brewpubs existed during the 1980s. Etymology The term ''gastropub'' (derived from gastronomy) was coined in 1991, when David E ...

market, his first being The White Horse in

Harpenden Harpenden () is a town and civil parish in the City and District of St Albans in the county of Hertfordshire, England. The population of the built-up area was 30,240 in the 2011 census, whilst the population of the civil parish was 29,448. Har ...

. In 2005 Jean-Christophe launched the Novelli Academy Cookery School based at his home in Hertfordshire. He opened his first of many brasserie concept restaurants in the Double Tree Hilton Hotel in Liverpool but withdrew the brand after a mutual decision between the brand and the owner in January 2016. In 2018 he opened 'Novelli at City Quays' in the ne
AC Marriott
hotel in th

Belfast, Northern Ireland. In 2013 Novelli launched recipe book,
Simply Novelli
. In it he aimed to eliminate the myth that French cuisine is difficult and time-consuming to prepare.

Novelli Restaurants Limited

In 2016 The Novelli Restaurant Limited brand was created and the Restaurant Team devised three offerings mainly aimed at quality hotels. Terrané by Jean-Christophe Novelli - Brasseries, Bistro '61 by Jean-Christophe Novelli - Bistro style and Rapido by JCN Short menu concept and will be developing a further fine dining offering in the near future. In 2018 Novelli announced the opening of his restaurant in the first Marriot hotel in Northern Ireland

Accolades

Jean-Christophe Novelli is a 5/5 AA Rosette and multi Michelin Star award-winning chef who has also been dubbed "The Nation’s Favourite French Chef", European Chef of Year finalist representing Great Britain, recipient of the prestigious Egon Ronay Dessert of the Year award. Voted the AA's Chef's Chef of the Year by his peers. Hi
Novelli Academy
has been voted one of the Top 25 Cooking Academies in the World, which he still owns and where he regularly hosts classes and performs his own cookery demonstrations. On 5 September 2007 Novelli was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Arts from the

University of Bedfordshire The University of Bedfordshire is a public research university with campuses in Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire, England. The University has roots from 1882, however, it gained university status in 1993 as the University of Luton. The Universi ...

. In March 2021, Novelli was awarded an honorary MBE by Her Majesty the Queen in recognition of his many acts of "voluntary and charitable service".

TV appearances

He appeared in the first series of '' The Games'' in 2003. In 2005 Jean-Christophe became one of two Head Chefs in the second series of ''

Hell's Kitchen Hell's Kitchen, also known as Clinton, is a neighborhood on the West Side of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is considered to be bordered by 34th Street (or 41st Street) to the south, 59th Street to the north, Eighth Avenue to the eas ...

'' with

Gary Rhodes Gary Rhodes (22 April 1960 – 26 November 2019) was an English restaurateur and television chef, known for his love of English cuisine and ingredients and for his distinctive spiked hair style. He fronted shows such as ''MasterChef'', ''Mast ...

. In 2006, Novelli appeared on '' The X Factor: Battle of the Stars'', performing in a group with fellow chefs

Aldo Zilli Aldo Zilli (born 26 Jаnuary 1956) is a celebrity chef specialising in Italian cuisine, based since 1976 in the United Kingdom. One of nine children, he was born in the small seaside town of Alba Adriatica in the central Italian region of Abruzzo ...

Paul Rankin Paul Rankin (born 1 October 1959 in Glasgow, Scotland) is a celebrity chef from Ballywalter, County Down, Northern Ireland. Rankin's parents moved back to Ballywalter, where he grew up, some time after he was born. This was stated when he was t ...

and

Ross Burden Ross Kelvin Burden (16 December 1968 – 17 July 2014) was a celebrity chef from New Zealand. His early career was as a model and he became a chef later in life inspired by the time spent cooking with his grandmother. Career Burden's profession ...

. He has been a contestant on ''

Family Fortunes ''Family Fortunes'' is a British television game show based on the American game show ''Family Feud''. The programme ran on ITV from 6 January 1980 to 30 December 2002. A celebrity version, ''All Star Family Fortunes'', followed from 2006 to 2 ...

'' with his fiancée Michelle Kennedy and on 2 May 2007 appeared on '' The Apprentice: You're Fired!'' on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

, the show following ''The Apprentice'' on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

. 2009 saw Jean-Christophe presenting his own show fo
Bravo TV (USA)
called ''

Chef Academy ''Chef Academy'' is a reality television series which premiered on November 16, 2009, on Bravo and ran for nine episodes until November 1, 2010. The show followed Jean Christophe Novelli, a chef with restaurants in London, France and South Africa ...

'' where he tried to train 9 aspiring chefs into professionals over a 10-part series (originally planned for 6 episodes). In October 2010, he teamed up with the

Potato Council AHDB Potatoes, previously known as the Potato Council, is a trade organisation that aims to develop and promote the potato industry in Great Britain. Previously an independent non-departmental public body, it has been a division of the Agricult ...

for a nationwide competition calle
Master Spud
which gave the winner a chance to star alongside him in a national TV advert. In 2012 Jean-Christophe was a judge on Britain's Best Chef (ITV). In 2014 Novelli appeared o
ITV's This MorningITV Loose Women
and the last Alan Titchmarsh Show on ITV. He later appeared on th
Britain's Got More Talent on ITV2
in 2015. Jean-Christophe performs many demonstrations around Europe, Russia and may parts of the World including Taste of Dubai and South Africa passing on his passion for cooking and trying to teach people to cook more healthily using little saturated fats, low sugars and no salt. In late 2015 Jean-Christophe featured in BBC One's ''

A Question of Sport ''Question of Sport'' (previously ''A Question of Sport'') is a British television sports quiz show produced and broadcast by the BBC. It is the "world's longest running TV sports quiz". Following a pilot episode in December 1968, broadcast onl ...

'' helping the mystery guest cook in his academy. January 2016 saw a lengthy appearance of Jean-Christophe showing the uses and benefits of Rape Seed Oil on the very popular BBC1 show, ''

Countryfile ''Countryfile'' is a British television programme which airs weekly on BBC One and reports on rural, agricultural, and environmental issues in the United Kingdom. The programme is currently presented by John Craven, Adam Henson, Matt Baker, T ...

''. He was also a member of the celebrity audience in

Derren Brown Derren Brown (born 27 February 1971) is an English mentalist, illusionist, painter, and author. He began performing in 1992, making his television debut with ''Derren Brown: Mind Control'' in 2000, and has since produced several more shows fo ...

's TV special "The Gathering". In 2017, he was the judge for week four of the

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

show ''Culinary Genius''. In 2019, he, with his partner chef

, won the third season of the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

show ''

Celebrity Hunted ''Hunted'' is a British reality series that began airing on Channel 4 on 10 September 2015. The series features contestants who are instructed to go on the run for a period of 25 (originally 28) days in mainland Great Britain, whilst avoiding a ...

''. In February 2021, Jean-Christophe cooked live on ''Steph's Packed Lunch'' on C4 and, with the help of his sons Jean and Jacques, he made pancakes on ''Jeremy Vine on 5''. Jean-Christophe also prepared 2 of his favourite classics - Mussels and Tarte Tatin - for Raymond Blanc when he appeared as his guest chef in Episodes 4 & 8 of '' Simply Raymond Blanc'' on ITV (February and March 2021).

The Novelli Academy

In 2005 Jean-Christophe Novelli opened th
Novelli Academy
which is based in his 14th-century home in Hertfordshire. Novelli continues to host public, private and virtual masterclasses and corporate team-bonding events. During sessions in the Academy, Novelli promotes healthy cooking by replacing salt and sugar with his own unique flavours and reducing the amount of saturated fats.

Personal life

Novelli has been divorced twice. His first wife, Tina, was of English descent; he has a daughter from his first marriage,

Christina Novelli Christina Novelli (born 27 November 1986) is an English DJ, vocalist and songwriter who resides in London. She is the daughter of Jean-Christophe Novelli, a French celebrity chef. Career Early career At the age of 17, influenced by the music ...

(born 1986), who is a musician and songwriter. He married his second wife, Anzelle Visser, from

Stellenbosch Stellenbosch (; )A Universal Pronounc ...

in South Africa, in 1999. At the time she was a model and also worked at Maison Novelli. They divorced in 2005. Novelli got engaged in November 2007 to his girlfriend of 2 years, Michelle Kennedy. On 29 August 2008, Kennedy gave birth to a son in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. In July 2012, Kennedy gave birth to another son (Jacques) in St Johann in Pongau, Austria. They have a third son called Valentino who was born in 2016.

References

http://www.thefranceshow.com/foodandwine-details.aspx?id=180 http://www.jeanchristophenovelli.com

External links

*
''Saturday Cooks!''
at

itv.com itv.com is the main website of ITV plc, the UK's largest commercial television broadcaster which operates 13 out of 15 regions on the ITV network under the ITV brand (or the UTV brand in Northern Ireland). The website offers online streaming, ...

William Sitwell: Jean-Christophe Novelli – Renaissance ManPierre KoffmannNovelli recipes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Novelli, Jean-Christophe 1961 births Living people People from Arras French people of Italian descent French chefs French emigrants to England The X Factor (British TV series) contestants French restaurateurs British restaurateurs Head chefs of Michelin starred restaurants