Jason Matthew Rayner[3] (born 14 September 1966) is a British journalist and food critic. He worked as a freelance journalist for newspapers including The Observer and The Independent on Sunday, and became the Observer restaurant critic in 1999. Rayner is a judge on the British version of the cooking show MasterChef and has written several novels.
Jay Rayner | |
|---|---|
 Rayner in 2019 | |
| Born | Jason Matthew Rayner 14 September 1966[1] |
| Education | Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School |
| Alma mater | University of Leeds |
| Occupation(s) | Broadcaster, writer, journalist, food critic |
| Years active | 1988–present |
| Employer(s) | BBC, Channel 4 and The Observer |
| Spouse | Pat Gordon-Smith[2] |
| Children | 2 |
| Parent(s) | Desmond Rayner Claire Rayner |
Early life
editRayner was born on 14 September 1966.[4] He is the younger son of Desmond Rayner and journalist Claire Rayner. His family is Jewish.[5] He was raised in the Sudbury Hill area of Harrow, London, and attended the independent Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School.[6] He studied politics at the University of Leeds, where he was editor of the Leeds Student newspaper, graduating in 1988.[4]
Career
editRayner worked as a freelance journalist after graduating, writing for newspapers including The Observer and The Independent on Sunday. In 1992, he was named Young Journalist of the Year in the British Press Awards. He worked as a feature writer for The Guardian, The Mail on Sunday, and The Observer before becoming the Observer restaurant critic in 1999.[4]
In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, when many restaurants were forced to close, Rayner announced he would not publish negative reviews. He wrote: "That doesn't mean giving good reviews to bad places, or not including criticisms. It just means that if I can't be generally positive, I won't review and will move on."[7]
Rayner has written for magazines including GQ, Esquire, Cosmopolitan, the New Statesman and Granta. His first novel, The Marble Kiss, published in 1994, was shortlisted for the Authors' Club Best First Novel Award. His second, Day of Atonement (1998) was shortlisted for the Jewish Quarterly Prize for Fiction.[8] His first non-fiction book, Stardust Falling, was published in 2002. His third novel, The Apologist, was published in 2004.
In 1997, Rayner won a Sony Radio Award for Papertalk, BBC Radio 5 Live's magazine programme about the newspaper business, which he presented. He chairs BBC Radio 4's food panel programme The Kitchen Cabinet.[9]
Rayner is a judge on the UK version of MasterChef.[10] He is the food reporter on the BBC magazine programme The One Show, and was on the panel of judges on the American programme Top Chef Masters. He appeared as a guest judge on the "UK" episode of The Final Table, season 1. Rayner hosts the Out to Lunch podcast in which he interviews a celebrity guest in each episode.[11]
Personal life
editRayner was awarded the title Beard of the Year for 2011 by the Beard Liberation Front.[12] He plays piano with his jazz ensemble the Jay Rayner Sextet.[13]
Books
editFiction
edit- The Marble Kiss (1994), ISBN 9780333621349
- Day of Atonement (1998), ISBN 9780552997836
- The Apologist (2004), ISBN 9781552784167
- The Oyster House Siege (2007), ISBN 9781843545668
Non-fiction
edit- Star Dust Falling (2002), ISBN 9780552999083
- The Man Who Ate the World (2008), ISBN 9780805086690[14]
- —— (2012). My Dining Hell: Twenty Ways to Have a Lousy Night Out. Penguin Books. ISBN 9780241963203.
- —— (2014). A Greedy Man in a Hungry World. HarperCollins. ISBN 9780007237609.
- —— (2016). The Ten (Food) Commandments. Penguin Books. ISBN 9780241976692.
- —— (2018). Wasted Calories and Ruined Nights. Biteback Publishing. ISBN 9781783351763.
- —— (2019). My Last Supper. Biteback Publishing. ISBN 9781783351466.
- —— (2021). Chewing the Fat: Tasting Notes from a Greedy Life. Biteback Publishing. ISBN 9781783352395.
Wasted Calories and Ruined Nights (2018) is a collection of some of Rayner's negative reviews[15]
Awards
editReferences
edit- ^ "Researcha". Web.researcha.com. [dead link]
- ^ Neustatter, Angela (3 November 1996). "Is it time confessional man shut up?". The Independent. London.
- ^ "Search Results for England 26 Wales Births 1837-2006".
- ^ a b c "Rayner, Jay". Rayner, Jay, (Born 14 Sept. 1966), freelance writer, journalist, broadcaster and musician. Who's Who. Oxford University Press. 1 December 2007. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u119824.
- ^ "Books | The Big Interview: Jay Rayner". Yorkshire Post. 2 June 2013. Archived from the original on 7 July 2013.
- ^ Rayner, Jay (2 March 2003). "Tales my mother never told me". The Observer. London. Retrieved 6 May 2010.
- ^ Rayner, Jay (17 September 2020). "I put negative reviews on pause after lockdown. Here's why that must continue". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
- ^ "Jewish Quarterly Literary Prize Winners 1996 – 2000 inclusive". The Jewish Quarterly). 16 March 2009. Archived from the original on 16 January 2013. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
- ^ "The Kitchen Cabinet" at BBC Radio 4. Archived 15 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 6 June 2015
- ^ Rayner, Jay (23 December 2023). "I've spent years tasting dishes on MasterChef. Now it's my turn to put on the apron". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 7 November 2024.
- ^ Woode, David (24 August 2019). "Food podcasts: The five best for cookery fans from Out To Lunch with Jay Rayner to Off Menu". i.
- ^ "2011: a good year for facial hair". Open Road. 29 December 2011. Archived from the original on 18 August 2016. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
- ^ "VIDEO: Masterchef star Jay Rayner brings foodie fun to Northampton". 12 October 2018. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
- ^ "Interview with Jay Rayner". digyorkshire.com. 27 May 2009. Archived from the original on 29 July 2012. Retrieved 17 June 2009.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "Announcing - a new collection of my scorching reviews of terrible restaurants". Archived from the original on 9 November 2018. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
