Prue Leith

Food mogul

Prue Leith. Photo courtesy longevitymag.co.za

Prudence Margaret Leith was born on February 18, 1940, the only girl of three siblings in a Johannesburg family. Her mother, Margaret Inglis, was a famous and glamorous South African actress who publicly protested apartheid.

Leith recalls her childhood as very privileged. She received a liberal education at St Mary’s School for Girls, an Anglican church school in Waverley that, at the time, was run by nuns. Leith became a boarder at St Mary’s when she was nine; though Leith lived only 5km (3mi) from the school, her mother’s acting career kept her out at night. She was an ambitious young girl.

At the age of 20, after dropping out of university, Leith persuaded her father that she should finish her education in France, having always wanted to live in cosmopolitan and happening Europe. Her father died when she was 21, which was tragic blow to the young woman. While in France, Leith developed a deep interest in food and headed to London’s Cordon Bleu to learn to cook; she has since spent most of her working life in the city.

In 1960, Leith formed a company supplying quality business lunches. This became Leith’s Good Food Limitedwhich, in 1995, had an estimated turnover of £15-million. In 1969 she opened Leith’s restaurant.The Michelin Guide – begun in the 1900s – highlights exceptional chefs and eateries. This prestigious and influential culinary-world handbook dished out a star to Leith’s, putting it on the map.

In 1974, Leith married South African writer Rayne Kruger, who published seven novels and several non-fiction books, including Goodbye Dolly Gray, the story of the Boer War. Kruger became Leith’s chairperson and finance director. They had one son, Daniel, and adopted Li-Da from Cambodia.

Leith’s next accomplishment, in 1975, was the formation Leith’s School of Food and Wine, where she trained amateur and professional cooks. The school in London still enjoys a wonderful international reputation, attracting students from all corners of the globe. Leith’s School has contacts with some of Britain’s top restaurants, and the school’s students are placed in fine establishments to gain valuable work experience.

Leith’s List is the school’s successful employment agency, and Leith’s Food Solutions helps chefs establish and develop their businesses. In 1997, the Prue Leith Chef’s Academy was opened in Centurion, Gauteng. It adheres to the same stringent standards and enjoys access to the same network as the London school.

Another facet of Leith’s gigantic empire is cookery books, including Leith’s Cookery Bible (on its third edition), Leith’s Guide to Wine, Leith’s Contemporary Cooking, Leith’s Step-by-Step Cookery Recipes and Techniques, Leith’s Book of Baking, Leith’s Vegetarian Cookery and Leith’s Complete Christmas, all published by Bloomsbury and produced at the School. The entrepreneur has also penned four novels: Leaving Patrick(1995), Sisters (2001), A Lovesome Thing (2004) and Choral Society.

Leith has been a cookery editor and food columnist for the Daily Mail, Sunday Express, The Guardian and The Mirror. She holds directorships and chairs numerous boards. Her honours include being named Veuve Clicquot Businesswoman of the Year in 1990, and seven honorary degrees or fellowships from English universities. She was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1989 and Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2010 Birthday Honours. Leith has been a judge on the BBC television programme Great British Menu since the series launched in 2006. From November 2006 to January 2010, she was chair of the School Food Trust, the British government’s campaign to replace fatty foods with fresh fruit and vegetables in schools.

Leith’s charity and philanthropic initiatives include Focus on Food, which uses four fully equipped pantechnicon buses to teach children and train teachers and families to cook in schools. The Hoxton Apprentice is a charitable restaurant, in Hackney, London, that employs 15 young people every six months, offering them skills training and new, more hopeful prospects. The restaurant boasts a 75% success rate, with trainees able to get and keep jobs. A second Apprentice restaurant opened in 2008 and several more are planned.

At 70, Leith is now a grandmother, but she is as busy and successful as ever. Rayne Kruger died in 2002, at the age of 80. Leith is very close to her two children, who live in separate apartments in the same building.