Jay Rayner

Jay Rayner
Born	(1966-09-14) 14 September 1966 London, England
Residence	London, England
Nationality	British
Education	The Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School
Alma mater	Leeds University
Occupation	Broadcaster, writer, journalist, food critic
Years active	1988-present
Employer	BBC, Channel 4 and The Observer
Spouse(s)	Pat Gordon-Smith
Parent(s)	Desmond Rayner Claire Rayner (deceased)

Jay Rayner (born 14 September 1966) is a British journalist, writer, broadcaster and food critic.

Life and career

Rayner is the younger son of journalist Claire Rayner and Desmond Rayner. His family is Jewish. He was brought up in the Sudbury Hill area of Harrow and attended the independent The Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School. He joined The Observer newspaper after graduating from Leeds University in 1988, where he was editor of the student newspaper. As of 2014 he is restaurant critic of The Observer. He has written for a wide range of British newspapers and magazines, including GQ, Esquire, Cosmopolitan, the New Statesman and Granta. In 1992 he was named Young Journalist of the Year in the British Press Awards.

His first novel, The Marble Kiss, published in 1994, was shortlisted for the Author's Club First Novel Award and his second, Day of Atonement (1998), was shortlisted for the Jewish Quarterly Prize for Fiction. His first non-fiction book, Stardust Falling, was published in 2002 and was followed by his third novel, The Apologist, published in the US as Eating Crow, in 2004.

In 1997 he won a Sony Radio Award for Papertalk, BBC Radio Five Live's magazine programme about the newspaper business, which he presented.

He was one of the panel of critics who made up the titular "enemy" on the daytime cookery show Eating with the Enemy and performs a similar role on the UK version of MasterChef. His television appearances have earnt him the nickname Acid Rayner due to his sour demeanour. 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 chairs a Radio Four programme called The Kitchen Cabinet, and has appeared on a University Challenge TV quiz Christmas special.

He was awarded the title Beard of the Year for 2011 by the Beard Liberation Front.

He attended Malton Food Festival as a guest star in 2013, with celebrity chef Antonio Carluccio.

He is an accomplished jazz pianist.

He will guest star on series 5 of Hacker Time.

Books

Fiction

• The Marble Kiss (1994), ISBN 0-333-62134-4
• Day of Atonement (1998), ISBN 0-552-99783-8
• The Apologist (2004), ISBN 1-55278-416-9
• The Oyster House Siege (2007), ISBN 1-84354-566-7

Non-fiction

• Star Dust Falling (2002), ISBN 0-552-99908-3
• The Man Who Ate The World (2008), ISBN 0-8050-8669-2

Awards

• Restaurant Critic Of The Year, Glenfiddich Food and Drink Awards (2001)
• Critic Of The Year, British Press Awards (2006)

Reviews

• Review of The Man Who Ate The World at Letters On Pages

External links

• Gourmet Traveller interview "A Bite With the Man Who Ate The World"
• The Man Who Ate The World interview at Letters On Pages