Celebrity Profiles
Radman, Louise
Louise Radman is an award winning wine writer and independent wine consultant with in depth knowledge of the global wine sector. Louise studied at Roseworthy college where she graduated with a bachelor degree in wine marketing from the university of Adelaide. She is a Len Evans scholar and has judged at a number of ASVO wine shows. She is wine writer for The Adelaide Magazine and contributes to other well known publications including Selector, Gourmet Traveller Wine and Sumptuous magazines. She is the founding head of the SA chapter of sommeliers Australia and sits on the national executive as well as the SA wine press club committee.
Louise acts on tasting and judging panels for Australian wine and brandy corporation wine export compliance, Australia’s wine list of the year awards, the AWRI advanced wine assessment course, advertiser newspaper’s top 100 wines and hyatt wine week. As former purchasing manager and executive sommelier, Louise managed the wine program at Hyatt regency Adelaide for seven years. She has also instituted wine education programs for swiss hotel’s international college of hotel management and le cordon bleu Australia.
Louise has traveled extensively throughout the great wine regions of the world and undertaken two vintages at domaine de l’arlot in burgundy, France. Amongst other accolades, Louise has been awarded South Australian employee of the year, the Australian alternative varieties wine show trophy for best journalism and twice SA sommelier of the year as well as the prestigious Daniel Pontifex memorial scholarship. She also developed the first cutting edge iPhone application for international wine reviews in Australia. Louise has developed strong networks and works closely with Australian wine industry leaders, government and media bodies.
Rankin, Paul
Paul Rankin grew up in Ballywalter, County Down – a seaside village on the Strangford Peninsula in Northern Ireland.
Paul has been credited as the pioneer of the restaurant revolution in Northern Ireland. He first opened the doors of Roscoff in 1989 at a time when Belfast was in desperate need of quality restaurants. He represented the first Chef in Northern Ireland to receive the coveted Michelin Star and, nearly twenty years later, most of the emerging restaurants in Belfast are headed up by Chefs who trained under Paul in the early days.
Paul first became interested in cooking when he was traveling the globe in his twenties. It was on these travels that he met his Canadian wife Jeanne in Greece, where he was working as a boat painter just outside Athens.
The couple returned to Canada where Paul started working as a waiter and instantly fell in love with the excitement of the restaurant world.
After further travels through India, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong and China, Paul and Jeanne returned to work for three years under the expert guidance of Albert Roux.
Following a period as Head Chef in a Californian Restaurant, Paul and Jeanne returned to Belfast in 1989 to open their first Restaurant - Roscoff – and soon had been credited with Northern Ireland’s first Michelin Star.
Paul’s television career took off soon after with three series of the popular Gourmet Ireland - a showcase for Irish produce and the country’s artisan producers.
Paul’s television career is still flourishing and most recent ventures include The People’s Cookbook with Antony Worrall Thompson, a new series and new format of ‘Ready Steady Cook’ and ‘Local Food Heroes’ with Gary Rhodes. In addition, he appeared in ‘Take on the Takeaway’ and a new series called ‘Food Poker’ in the autumn of 2007 on BBC2 and more recently a brand new series started in May 2009 on BBC2 “Put your money where your mouth is”. He is also a regular guest on Saturday Kitchen.
To date, Paul and Jeanne have written five books and contributed to countless others. ‘Gourmet Ireland I and II’ accompanied the television series. ‘Hot Food’ and ‘Ideal Home Cooking’ followed with the fifth title, ‘New Irish Cookery’, a compendium of over 140 mouth-watering recipes with an authentic spirit that reflects their shared passion for cooking with fresh and tasty Irish ingredients. The Peoples Cookbook has also just been released following the very successful TV series.
Almost two decades on since first opening Roscoff, Paul now boasts one of the best restaurants in the country with the funkier and more casual Cayenne. Paul has trained a legacy of star chefs who are ensuring that Ireland continues to boast a world class reputation for cuisine.
Above and beyond the restaurant, television and books, Paul’s passion for great quality Irish produce has led to the development of an award winning range of premium Irish products under the Rankin Selection brand which are available throughout the UK.
Richardson, Kay
For nearly a decade, Kay has immersed herself in the myriad of issues surrounding food, education and the health of children. In 2003 she became an inaugural recipient of a Master of Arts (Gastronomy) awarded by Adelaide University and Le Cordon Bleu; the major focus of her Master’s Dissertation was children’s food education.
She is a consultant on food education events and food service to children, as well as providing food education opportunities through her company Young Gourmet (www.younggourmet.com).
Kay is also the founder of The Children’s Food Education Foundation (www.childrensfoodeducation.org.au), a charity established to promote an understanding of food, health, nutrition and healthy food choices by children and young people.
As a member of the Food Media Club of Australia, Kay’s writing (specific to children) has been published by Australian Good Taste, the Australian Healthy Food Guide and includes a children’s cookbook entitled Funky Food.
