Skye Gyngell, the first Australian female chef to win a coveted Michelin star, has died aged 62.
Gyngell rose to fame in the UK after her garden centre cafe in south-west London was awarded one of the highest honours for chefs. She went on to helm Spring restaurant at Somerset House and Marle and Hearth at Heckfield Place in Hampshire.
Gyngell’s family said she died on Saturday in London, describing her as a “culinary visionary who influenced generations of chefs and growers globally to think about food and its connection to the land”.
Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver paid tribute to Gyngell – who was diagnosed with skin cancer last year – and thanked her for “all you did to inspire young cooks”.
During the 1980s, Gyngell pioneered the “slow food movement” before becoming a private chef for clients including Nigella Lawson, Madonna and Guy Ritchie.
Lawson mourned her death, writing on Instagram, “However ill you know someone to be, their death is always a shock. It’s just awful that Skye is no longer in the world.”
Born in Sydney, Gyngell was the daughter of Bruce Gyngell, the first person to appear on Australian television in 1956, and interior designer Ann Barr.
She studied law at Sydney University before deciding the culinary world was for her, moving to Paris when she was 19 years where she trained and worked under acclaimed chefs including at the two Michelin-starred restaurant Dodin-Bouffant.
She later moved to London and worked at the French House in Soho with Fergus and Margot Henderson.
In 2004, Gyngell became head chef at Petersham Nurseries cafe in Richmond, where she turned the dilapidated site into a thriving cafe, and in 2011, it was awarded a Michelin star.
But the kudos was a double-edged sword for Gyngell, who left the cafe a year after the award, saying she was frustrated by customers who expected a traditional Michelin experience at her rustic cafe.
Her later ventures included Spring at Somerset House, which was the first single-use plastic-free restaurant in London.
Gyngell, who overcame drug and alcohol addiction in her younger years, was also known for her award-winning cookbooks and wrote columns for Vogue as its food editor.
Last year, she found a lump in her neck and was diagnosed with Merkel cell carcinoma, a rare and aggressive skin cancer.
She underwent an operation which included the removal of her salivary glands, causing her to temporarily lose her sense of smell and taste.
