Jason
Roberts

Speaker Profile

New Zealand native and international celebrity chef Jason Roberts could easily be mistaken for a carefree college student instead of the world-renowned executive chef, author and television personality that he is. His brilliant smile and cheeky nature captivates people on all continents, while his health-conscious culinary skills – currently on display in his cookbooks Elements and Graze – tantalise taste buds everywhere.

Finding inspiration in his Nana's kitchen as a child, Jason 'Jas' Roberts boldly declared, 'Nana, I want to be a cook!' Role models weren't in short supply, with Nana and grandfather making their living as caterers and his other grandmother running a restaurant. A New Zealand native, Jason the child experienced nothing but praise from teachers and other adults for his excellent cooking and presentation skills in home economics classes. 'I have wanted to cook for as long as I can remember,' says Jason. 'It's something I do to indulge my imagination, be creative, and feed my artistic passion. To me, cooking is the most consistent of life's joys and is immeasurably rewarding - instantly and constantly.' Apprenticeships at top Sydney restaurants won him the title of Apprentice of the Year in from the East Sydney Technical Institute in 1993.

Gaining the post of Executive Chef at the renowned Bistro Moncur (where Jason stayed for 7 years), a 2 Hat restaurant, Jason was featured in a newspaper article on Sydney's 'new breed of chefs'. This article caught the attention of Australia's Channel Nine, where Jason became the host of the new cooking program Fresh, which he continued to do for four years. Fresh aired five days a week in Australia and New Zealand. In January 2003, Jason was introduced to 16 million Americans on the ABC TV program Good Morning America. His appearance created such a desire for his recipes on the ABC's website, which rocketed from number 25 to number four in the day's stories. The TV Cook went on to tantalise viewers in the US making several appearances on the Emmy award winning The Wayne Brady Show, The Sharon Osbourne Show, E! and The Style Network's You're Invited. Jason also appeared on New York's morning show Ali & Jack, Talk Soap with Lisa Rinna and was the special Australian guest entertainment at the 2004 TV Soap Awards.

In February 2004 Jason joined forces with the world-renowned US production company Mandalay Pictures, where he filmed a series of lifestyle programs titled Jason Roberts Taste, which aired on the PAX network in the USA in October 2005. At this time Jason also signed a deal as Global Ambassador for the leading cookware brand iCook. This sees Jason travelling with world throughout the year teaching about healthy cooking and healthy lifestyles, in a way only Jason can... with high energy and lots of laughs! Jason continues to work in the corporate arena via product launches, corporate presentations and his now famous In the Kitchen with Jason Roberts, which sees guests in a commercial kitchen, cooking their own meals under the tutoring eye of Jason; these events have proven to be a hit for team building and 'something different' for the corporate events market.

2005 saw Jason make numerous appearances on the Network 10's Ready Steady Cook and completing endorsements and appearances for Sanitarium, Parbury Kitchens and Kleenmaid. Jason's passion for fast, healthy eating and fresh produce led him to creating a cookbook, Graze: Lots of Little Meals Fast (MacMillan, 2003), which taps into the growing trend towards eating smaller, more frequent meals by offering healthy small-portion recipes and alternative cooking methods to save time and effort. 'It's all about little meals,' says Jason. December 2005 saw Jason pick up twp American Accolade Awards for Best Host and Best Health and Lifestyle program for Jason Roberts' Taste. 2006 saw the release of Jason's second book Elements and his continuing endorsements for many Australian
and American companies. Jason currently maintains the roll as Executive Chef at the Bellevue Hotel in Sydney Australia as well as the Underwood café and Bellevue Catering, the year ahead holds a move to New York due to the success of his live stage show Jason Roberts LIVE! which continues to tour the United States as well as signing on ABC America as one of the cast of the The Chew, hitting screens five days a week beginning September 2011.

Jason Roberts travels from New South Wales Australia

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