Henry Dimbleby is co-founder of Leon Restaurants, the not-for-profit Sustainable
Restaurant Association and the charity Chefs In Schools. He is the lead Non-Executive
Director at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, commissioned to
create a National Food Strategy.
In 2012, he was asked by the government to produce a blueprint for improving school
food and food education in Britain. Together with John Vincent, he produced the
School Food Plan – one of the biggest shake-ups of school food for a generation. It has
overseen, among other changes, the introduction of cookery lessons for all children up
to the age of 14, universal free school meals for infants, and new standards for the
food served to children in schools. In addition to writing a column for The Guardian he
has appeared regularly on Radio 4’s Kitchen Cabinet & BBC’s Saturday Kitchen.
Henry started his career as a commis chef with Michelin-starred chef, Bruno Loubet,
before joining The Daily Telegraph. From there he moved to Bain & Company, a
management consultancy firm, where he met John Vincent. They spent a lot of time
together on the road, travelling for work, where all they found to eat was delicious but
life-destroying fried chicken or cold, neon-lit sandwiches.
Infuriated by the difficulty of
finding tasty, nutritious food on the run, they resolved to do something about it. And so
Leon was born.