Penny Melville-Brown is a British Royal Navy veteran, blind baker and winner of the Holman Prize. She served for 22 years in the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS) and Royal Navy, reaching the rank of commander. She was the first woman to hold the position of naval barrister. She was medically discharged from the Royal Navy in 1999 after her eyesight deteriorated [1] and she created Disability Dynamics to help other people with disabilities to start a business. She was appointed OBE in the 2009 Birthday Honours "For services to Disabled and Disadvantaged People." [2] In 2017, she was one of the three winners of the 2017 Holman Prize for Blind Ambition, an international award for blind people with ambition, named after 19th-century blind naval veteran James Holman. [3] In 2018, she was awarded an honorary doctorate by Middlesex University. [4] She has an online baking project called Baking Blind where she shows people how she cooks and encourages others to test their limits even if they have disabilities. [5]
In late 2017 she was seriously injured in a car crash in France, and in a coma for five weeks. [6]
In March 2022, she self-published her second[ clarification needed ] cook-book: A cook's tour: Baking Blind goes global. [7]
Baking is a method of preparing food that uses dry heat, typically in an oven, but can also be done in hot ashes, or on hot stones. The most common baked item is bread, but many other types of foods can be baked. Heat is gradually transferred "from the surface of cakes, cookies, and pieces of bread to their center. As heat travels through, it transforms batters and doughs into baked goods and more with a firm dry crust and a softer center". Baking can be combined with grilling to produce a hybrid barbecue variant by using both methods simultaneously, or one after the other. Baking is related to barbecuing because the concept of the masonry oven is similar to that of a smoke pit.
Baked beans is a dish traditionally containing white beans that are parboiled and then, in the US, baked in sauce at low temperature for a lengthy period. In the United Kingdom, the dish is sometimes baked, but usually stewed in sauce. Canned baked beans are not baked, but are cooked through a steam process.
A muffin is an individually portioned baked product; however, the term can refer to one of two distinct items: a part-raised flatbread that is baked and then cooked on a griddle, or a quickbread that is chemically leavened and then baked in a mold. While quickbread "American" muffins are often sweetened, there are savory varieties made with ingredients such as corn and cheese, and less sweet varieties like traditional bran muffins. The flatbread "English" variety is of British or other European derivation, and dates from at least the early 18th century, while the quickbread originated in North America during the 19th century. Both types are common worldwide today.
A biscuit, in most English speaking countries, is a flour-based baked and shaped food product. Biscuits are typically hard, flat, and unleavened. They are usually sweet and may be made with sugar, chocolate, icing, jam, ginger, or cinnamon. They can also be savoury, similar to crackers. Types of biscuit include sandwich biscuits, digestive biscuits, ginger biscuits, shortbread biscuits, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate-coated marshmallow treats, Anzac biscuits, biscotti, and speculaas.
Hardtack is a type of dense biscuit or cracker made from flour, water, and sometimes salt. Hardtack is inexpensive and long-lasting. It is used for sustenance in the absence of perishable foods, commonly during long sea voyages, land migrations, and military campaigns. Along with salt pork and corned beef, hardtack was a standard ration for many militaries and navies from the 17th to the early 20th centuries.
Meatloaf is a dish of ground meat that has been combined with other ingredients and formed into the shape of a loaf, then baked or smoked. The final shape is either hand-formed on a baking tray, or pan-formed by cooking it in a loaf pan. It is usually made with ground beef, although ground lamb, pork, veal, venison, poultry, and seafood are also used, sometimes in combination. Vegetarian adaptations of meatloaf may use imitation meat or pulses.
HMAS Choules (L100) is a Bay-class landing ship that served with the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) from 2006 to 2011, before being purchased by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). The vessel was built as RFA Largs Bay by Swan Hunter in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear. She was named after Largs Bay in Ayrshire, Scotland, and entered service in November 2006. During her career with the RFA, Largs Bay served as the British ship assigned to patrol the Falkland Islands in 2008, and delivered relief supplies following the 2010 Haiti earthquake.
James Holman FRS, known as the "Blind Traveller," was a British adventurer, author and social observer, best known for his writings on his extensive travels. Completely blind and experiencing pain and limited mobility, he undertook a series of solo journeys that were unprecedented both in their extent of geography and method of "human echolocation". In 1866, the journalist William Jerdan wrote that "From Marco Polo to Mungo Park, no three of the most famous travellers, grouped together, would exceed the extent and variety of countries traversed by our blind countryman." In 1832, Holman became the first blind person to circumnavigate the globe. He continued travelling, and by October 1846 had visited every inhabited continent.
Jessica Harper is an American actress and singer. Harper began her feature film career with a starring role in Brian De Palma's Phantom of the Paradise (1974), and subsequently featured in films including Inserts (1975) and My Favorite Year (1982). She is best known for her portrayal of Suzy Bannion, the protagonist of Dario Argento's cult classic Suspiria (1977), and appeared in a supporting role in Luca Guadagnino's 2018 remake.
Food reality television is a genre of reality television programming that considers the production, consumption and/or sociocultural impact of food.
Penelope Cook was an Australian actress, stage director, TV presenter and writer. She played roles in the soap opera A Country Practice, as Vicki Dean Bowen from 1981 to 1985, E Street as lead anchor-character, Dr Elly Fielding, between 1989 and 1991, and Neighbours in the recurring role of Prue Brown from 2007 to 2010. She was also a presenter on travel show The Great Outdoors
Dame Mary Rosa Alleyne Hunnings is an English food writer, chef, baker and television presenter. After being encouraged in domestic science classes at school, she studied catering at college. She then moved to France at the age of 22 to study at Le Cordon Bleu culinary school, before working in a number of cooking-related jobs.
Dame Prudence Margaret Leith, is a South African restaurateur, television presenter/broadcaster, cookery writer and novelist.
Lorraine Pascale is a British television cook and USA Food Network host and former top model, best known for selling almost one million books in the UK alone. Her TV shows are in 70 countries worldwide. She had her own cooking show on the BBC for several seasons. From 2007 to 2012 she owned a retail outlet in London selling baked goods called Ella's Bakehouse named after her daughter. She is the United Kingdom Government Fostering and Adoption Ambassador and an emotional wellness advocate. She is the mother of Charlie’s Angels star Ella Balinska.
Melville Brown may refer to:
Rosanna Pansino is an American YouTuber, actress, author and singer. Pansino is one of the highest-paid content-creators on YouTube, and was listed first on Forbes'Top Influencers: Food list in 2017.
Ruby Alice Tandoh is a British baker, columnist, author, and former model. She was runner-up on series four of BBC's The Great British Bake Off in 2013 and has written four cookbooks. Her 2021 Cook as You Are was named to several best-of lists. Her sometimes strident online debates with much of the UK food world have also drawn attention.
Tiffany Brar is an Indian community service worker who became blind as an infant due to oxygen toxicity. Brar is the founder of the Jyothirgamaya Foundation, a non-profit organization that teaches life skills to blind people of all ages. She is a trainer, a campaigner for disability awareness and an advocates for an inclusive society.
Devaki Vijayaraman is an Indian home baker, television cook and a business owner, who hails from the town Trichy. She was the winner of MasterChef India – Tamil .
Briony May Williams is a British celebrity chef and presenter. She appeared on series 9 of The Great British Bake Off in 2018, finishing fourth. She presents the cooking show Food Unwrapped and the reality housing show Escape to the Country, and writes recipe columns for BristolLife and the supermarket Asda's Good Living.