Silvena Rowe (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Lauta, born in

Plovdiv Plovdiv ( bg, Пловдив, ), is the second-largest city in Bulgaria, standing on the banks of the Maritsa river in the historical region of Thrace. It has a population of 346,893 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is the c ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

) is a

Bulgarian Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...

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 ...

food writer Food writing is a genre of writing that focuses on food and includes works by food critics, food journalists, chefs and food historians. Definition Food writers regard food as a substance and a cultural phenomenon. John T. Edge, an American food ...

, television personality and

restaurateur A restaurateur is a person who opens and runs restaurants professionally. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who owns a restaurant, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspec ...

Biography

Rowe was born in

to a

mother and a Turkish father. Rowe's father, who was a newspaper editor of the largest itation or source needed?Bulgarian newspaper, Bulgarianised his name due to Bulgaria's communist government. He instilled in Rowe a love of cooking and passed down the traditions of the

Ottoman cuisine Ottoman cuisine is the cuisine of the Ottoman Empire and its continuation in the cuisines of Turkey, the Balkans, Caucasus, Middle East and Northern Africa. Today, Turkish cuisine is a continuation of Ottoman cuisine. Sources The Ottoman pa ...

. At the age of 19, she moved to

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 ...

. Silvena cooked in the kitchen of the

Notting Hill Notting Hill is a district of West London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Notting Hill is known for being a cosmopolitan and multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting Hill Carnival and Portobello Road M ...

bookshop Books for Cooks, which led her to cook for

Princess Michael of Kent Princess Michael of Kent (born Baroness Marie-Christine Anna Agnes Hedwig Ida von Reibnitz, 15 January 1945) is a member of the British royal family of German, Austrian, Czech and Hungarian descent. She is married to Prince Michael of Kent, ...

Ruby Wax Ruby Wax (; born 19 April 1953) is an American-British actress, comedian, writer, television personality, and mental health campaigner. A classically-trained actress, Wax was with the Royal Shakespeare Company for five years and co-starred on t ...

and

Tina Turner Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939) is an American-born Swiss retired singer and actress. Widely referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", she rose to prominence as the lead singer o ...

. She also met

Malcolm Gluck Malcolm Gluck is a British author, broadcaster and wine columnist. Career Initially an advertising copywriter for Collett Dickenson Pearce, Doyle Dane Bernbach, a founder employee of Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO and later creative director for Lin ...

and the two began to write a regular food column for

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

newspaper. In 2007, she was the food consultant on

David Cronenberg David Paul Cronenberg (born March 15, 1943) is a Canadian film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is one of the principal originators of what is commonly known as the body horror genre, with his films exploring visceral bodily transformation ...

’s 2007 film

Eastern Promises ''Eastern Promises'' is a 2007 gangster film directed by David Cronenberg from a screenplay by Steven Knight. The film tells the story of Anna (Naomi Watts), a Russian-British midwife who delivers the baby of a drug-addicted 14-year old Russian ...

. She has become a regular guest on the BBC's ''

Saturday Kitchen ''Saturday Kitchen Live'' is a British cookery programme, that is broadcast live on BBC One every Saturday between 10.00am and 11.30am produced by Cactus TV. History 2002–2003 After a pilot hosted by Ainsley Harriott on 14 April 2001, the ...

'' and ITV's '' This Morning''. In 2007, her book ''Feasts'' won the Glenfiddich Food and Drink Award. After her father's death she wanted to rediscover her heritage so she travelled through

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

and

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

tracing her Ottoman roots; this resulted in her cookbook ''Purple Citrus and Sweet Perfume''. On 7 June 2011, her restaurant Quince opened at

The May Fair The May Fair Hotel is a luxury hotel on Stratton Street in Mayfair, London, near the site of Devonshire House in Piccadilly. It opened in 1927 with King George V and Queen Mary in attendance. The hotel is now owned by Edwardian Hotels, and In ...

Hotel in

Mayfair Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world. ...

. Her restaurant is influenced by her Turkish heritage- homage to her grandfather Mehmed, who used to cook the dishes for her father. Currently Silvena shares her time between Dubai, Sofia, New York and London. Silvena Rowe is also a Charlton Athletic Supporter.

Awards

*2007: Glenfiddich Food and Drink Award-London *2011: Gourmand Award - Paris *2017: Commitment to Healthy Eating, Time Out Dubai Restaurant Awards- Dubai

Television appearances

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ...

"Chopped" guest judge S18 Episode 225 05/13/2014 *

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 ...

's ''

'', a regular guest *

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 ...

's ''Country Show Cook Off'' S01 E16-20 (2013) * ITV This Morning *

Let's Dance for Comic Relief ''Let's Sing and Dance'', formerly known as ''Let's Dance'', is a British television programme shown on BBC One, featuring celebrities performing famous dance routines to raise money for the charities Comic Relief and Sport Relief. The programme ...

* Screen expert/judge on BBC ''Young Chef of the Year'' (2009) * Come Dine with Me *

Great Food Live ''Great Food Live'', formerly ''Good Food Live'', was a British magazine programme hosted by Jeni Barnett and broadcast on UKTVFood part of the UKTV Network between 2001 and 2007. Jeni Barnett was joined every day by a chef co-host. The first c ...

Soapstar Superchef ''Soapstar Superchef'' was a cooking show on the ITV Network, where soap stars from '' Coronation Street'', '' EastEnders'', ''Emmerdale'', ''Hollyoaks'' (and '' Hollyoaks: In the City'') and '' Neighbours'' competed to be crowned "kings" or "que ...

* Time Machine Chefs * A bit of salt - bTV (2013) * Masterchef Bulgaria on bTV - Judge in Season 5 (2019), Season 6 (2020) and Season 7 (2021)

Books

*''Supergrub: Dinner-party Bliss on a Budget'', HarperCollins, (, 2004) *''Feasts: Food for Sharing from Central and Eastern Europe'', Mitchell Beazley, (, 2006) *''The Eastern and Central European Kitchen: Contemporary & Classic Recipes'', Interlink, (, 2008) *''Purple Citrus and Sweet Perfume: Cuisine of the Eastern Mediterranean'', Hutchinson, (, 2010) *''Orient Express'', Hutchinson, (, 2011) *''My Kitchen'' (Моята кухня), A&T Publishing, (, 2021)

References

External links

*
Omnia By Sylvena - An interview with Sylvena Rowe
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rowe, Silvena Living people British chefs Bulgarian chefs Food writers Bulgarian emigrants to England Bulgarian people of Turkish descent Writers from Plovdiv British people of Turkish descent 1967 births