Ruth Rogers, Baroness Rogers of Riverside, (; born 7 July 1948) is an American-born British chef who owns and runs the

Michelin starred The Michelin Guides ( ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The Guide awards up to three Michelin star (classification), stars for excellence to a select few establishments. The ac ...

Italian restaurant The River Café in

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. ...

, London.Adam Lushe
Record 10 women chefs win Michelin stars
The Telegraph 17 January 2009 She is the widow of the Italian-born British architect Sir

Richard Rogers Richard George Rogers, Baron Rogers of Riverside (23 July 1933 – 18 December 2021) was a British architect noted for his modernist and Functionalism (architecture), functionalist designs in high-tech architecture. He was a senior partner a ...

, Baron Rogers of Riverside.

Early and private life

Ruth Elias, known as Ruthie, was born in upstate

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. She inherited her left-wing politics from her parents. Her father was a doctor, the son of immigrants to the US from Hungary; he spent some time in Spain in the 1930s during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

. Her mother was a librarian and trade union activist, whose parents came to the US from Russia.Ruth Rogers: a woman for all seasons
''The Daily Telegraph'', 18 November 2007 Her brother is screenwriter

Michael Elias Michael Herman Elias (born September 20, 1940) is an American writer, film director and producer. Early and private life Elias was born in upstate New York. He inherited his left-wing politics from his parents. His father was a doctor, the son of ...

, who co-wrote the movie ''

The Jerk ''The Jerk'' is a 1979 American comedy film directed by Carl Reiner and written by Steve Martin, Carl Gottlieb, and Michael Elias (from a story by Steve Martin and Carl Gottlieb). This was Martin's first starring role in a feature film. The fil ...

'' and co-created the TV sitcom ''

Head of the Class ''Head of the Class'' is an American sitcom television series that ran from 1986 to 1991 on the ABC television network. The series follows a group of gifted students in the Individualized Honors Program (IHP) at the fictional Millard Fillmor ...

''. The family moved to

Woodstock Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. ...

in the early 1960s; she recounts an anecdote of turning down an invitation to watch

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

and his band rehearsing in 1965. She studied at

Colorado Rocky Mountain School Colorado Rocky Mountain School (CRMS), founded in 1953, is a coeducational boarding and day school in Carbondale, Colorado. CRMS educates roughly 175 students in grades 9 through 12. The curriculum emphasizes rigorous college preparatory academ ...

from 1964 to 1966, and then for a year at

Bennington College Bennington College is a private liberal arts college in Bennington, Vermont. Founded in 1932 as a women's college, it became co-educational in 1969. It claims to be the first college to include visual and performing arts as an equal partner in ...

in Vermont.The Inventory: Ruth Rogers
''Financial Times'', 21 April 2012 In 1967, her second (

sophomore In the United States, a sophomore ( or ) is a person in the second year at an educational institution; usually at a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. In ...

) year, she took a year out to come to England, accompanying a boyfriend who was a

Rhodes scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

in Oxford. After she decided against returning to Bennington, she studied design at the

London College of Printing The London College of Communication is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London. It specialises in media-related subjects including advertising, animation, film, graphic design, photography and sound arts. It has approximately ...

from 1968. While in London, she joined the protests against the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

outside the US Embassy in

Grosvenor Square Grosvenor Square is a large garden square in the Mayfair district of London. It is the centrepiece of the Mayfair property of the Duke of Westminster, and takes its name from the duke's surname "Grosvenor". It was developed for fashionable re ...

in 1968. She met the architect

in late 1969. Rogers was 15 years older, and at the time he was married to and in a professional partnership (

Team 4 Team 4 was a British architectural firm, established in 1963 by architecture graduates Su Brumwell, Wendy Cheesman, Norman Foster and Richard Rogers. Friction emerged within the firm, and by June 1967, Foster and Rogers decided to dissolve the ...

) with his first wife

Su Rogers Susan Jane Rogers ( Brumwell; born 22 February 1939) is a British designer and educator. She was a co-founder and partner during the 1960s and 1970s in two architectural practices Team 4 and Richard + Su Rogers. From 1986 to 2011, she was a par ...

(née Brumwell), with three young sons. After Rogers divorced his first wife, he married Ruth in 1973. She accompanied Rogers when he moved to Paris for several years to supervise the building of the

Pompidou Centre The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...

. They lived above a market in

Le Marais The Marais (Le Marais ; "the marsh") is a historic district in Paris, France. Having once been an aristocratic district, it is home to many buildings of historic and architectural importance. It spreads across parts of the 3rd and 4th arr ...

, where she learnt the importance of seasonality, before moving to the

Place des Vosges The Place des Vosges (), originally Place Royale, is the oldest planned square in Paris, France. It is located in the ''Marais'' district, and it straddles the dividing-line between the 3rd and 4th arrondissements of Paris. It was a fashionable ...

. She then spent time in north Italy; Rogers's parents had moved to England from

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

. She lived with her husband in two town houses in

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

, converted to a single dwelling by her husband in 1983.The women who don't get out of bed for less than £10,000 a night
''The Guardian'', 12 June 2005 They had two sons,

Roo Roo is a fictional character created in 1926 by A. A. Milne and first featured in the book ''Winnie-the-Pooh''. He is a young kangaroo (known as a joey) and his mother is Kanga. Like most other Pooh characters, Roo is based on a stuffed toy an ...

(born 1975) and Bo (born 1983). Their younger son Bo died suddenly in October 2011, aged 27. She was appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in 2010.

The River Café

After her experiences in France and Italy, Rogers was inspired to open an Italian restaurant in London in 1987 with Rose Gray, initially almost as a canteen to feed the staff at Rogers's architecture practice based nearby at Thames Wharf,

. Her husband designed the minimalist space. The River Café developed a strong reputation for the seasonality and quality of its food, and its intense focus on authentic Italian cooking. Its cookbooks, such as ''The River Café Cook Book'' (first published in 1995), have become best-sellers, and Gray and Rogers presented ''The Italian Kitchen'' on

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 ...

in 1998. The restaurant has trained a series of successful chefs, including

April Bloomfield April Bloomfield (born 1974) is a British chef who has opened two New York restaurants: The Spotted Pig (closed January 26, 2020) and The Breslin Bar & Dining Room. Bloomfield had previously worked at several restaurants in the United Kingdom, ...

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall Hugh Christopher Edmund Fearnley-Whittingstall (born 14 January 1965) is an English celebrity chef, television personality, journalist, food writer, and campaigner on food and environmental issues. Fearnley-Whittingstall hosted the ''River Cot ...

Jamie Oliver James Trevor Oliver MBE OSI (born 27 May 1975) is an English chef, restaurateur and cookbook author. He is known for his casual approach to cuisine, which has led him to front numerous television shows and open many restaurants. Oliver reache ...

, and

Theo Randall Theo Randall (born 1967) is an English chef who specialises in Italian cuisine. He is the proprietor of Theo Randall at the InterContinental Hotel London Park Lane, although he is perhaps best known for being awarded a Michelin star at The River ...

, and it has held a Michelin star since 1998. Rogers has continued to run the restaurant after the death of her business partner Rose Gray from cancer in 2010. Among her culinary influences are

Julia Child Julia Carolyn Child (née McWilliams; August 15, 1912 – August 13, 2004) was an American cooking teacher, author, and television personality. She is recognized for bringing French cuisine to the American public with her debut cookbook, '' ...

and her book ''

Mastering the Art of French Cooking ''Mastering the Art of French Cooking'' is a two-volume French cookbook written by Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle, both from France, and Julia Child, who was from the United States. The book was written for the American market and published ...

'', and

Marcella Hazan Marcella Hazan (née Polini; April 15, 1924 – September 29, 2013) was an Italian cooking writer whose books were published in English. Her cookbooks are credited with introducing the public in the United States and the United Kingdom to the ...

and her book ''The Classic Italian Cook Book''. Already

(MBE), Rogers was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(CBE) in the

2020 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours for 2020 are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded ...

for services to the culinary arts and charity.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rogers, Ruth 1948 births Living people British chefs American chefs American emigrants to England Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom People from New York (state) Bennington College alumni Commanders of the Order of the British Empire American people of Hungarian descent American people of Russian descent British people of Hungarian descent British people of Russian descent Spouses of life peers Rogers of Riverside Wives of knights Rogers family