Abstract

Alex Rushmer is a chef, food writer and restaurateur. He graduated from the University of Cambridge in 2005 with a degree in Social & Political Sciences and has spent the last 15 years working in food and hospitality. After reaching the final of BBC One’s Masterchef, he opened the award-winning Hole in the Wall which went on to be named one of the UK’s top 100 restaurants by The Sunday Times. He is now the co-owner of Vanderlyle in Cambridge, a critically-acclaimed, Michelin-rated restaurant that focusses on creating vegetable-led, locally-sourced tasting menus with a keen focus on sustainability and responsibility. His writing has been featured in, amongst others, The Guardian, Restaurant Magazine and Olive Magazine and he has been the regular monthly food columnist for Cambridge Edition Magazine since its first issue in 2011. As well as Cambridge, Alex has also spent time cooking across the world, most notably in Switzerland and Ethiopia. He continues to feature as a regular guest judge on Masterchef and in 2021 was invited back as a guest chef on the Celebrity version of the show, showcasing some of the vegetable focussed dishes that have featured on the menu at Vanderlyle. His lecture will focus on food as an expression of the human condition and how that relates to his work as a professional chef, how the restaurant profession needs to adapt and what led him to open a restaurant that cooks an entirely plant-led menu.