Silvena Rowe (born in Plovdiv, Bulgaria) is a British chef, food writer, television personality and restaurateur. Rowe was born in Plovdiv, Bulgaria to a Bulgarian mother and a Turkish father. Rowe's father, who was a newspaper editor, Bulgarianised his name due to Bulgaria's communist government. He instilled in Rowe a love of cooking, and he passed down the traditions of the Ottoman cuisine. In 1986, at the age of 19, she moved to London where she married Malcolm Rowe. She cooked in the kitchen of the Notting Hill bookshop Books for Cooks, which led her to cook for Princess Michael of Kent, Ruby Wax and Tina Turner. She also met Malcolm Gluck and the two began to write a regular food column for The Guardian newspaper. In 2007, she was the Silvena Rowe (born in Plovdiv, Bulgaria) is a British chef, food writer, television personality and restaurateur. Rowe was born in Plovdiv, Bulgaria to a Bulgarian mother and a Turkish father. Rowe's father, who was a newspaper editor, Bulgarianised his name due to Bulgaria's communist government. He instilled in Rowe a love of cooking, and he passed down the traditions of the Ottoman cuisine. In 1986, at the age of 19, she moved to London where she married Malcolm Rowe. She cooked in the kitchen of the Notting Hill bookshop Books for Cooks, which led her to cook for Princess Michael of Kent, Ruby Wax and Tina Turner. She also met Malcolm Gluck and the two began to write a regular food column for The Guardian newspaper. In 2007, she was the food consultant on David Cronenberg’s 2007 film Eastern Promises. She has become a regular guest on the BBC's Saturday Kitchen and ITV's This Morning. In 2007, her book Feasts won the Glenfiddich Food and Drink Award. After her fathers death she wanted to rediscover her heritage so she travelled through Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan tracing her Ottoman roots; this resulted in her cookbook Purple Citrus and Sweet Perfume. On 1st June 2011, her restaurant Quince opened at The May Fair Hotel in Mayfair, London. Her restaurant is influenced by her Turkish heritage- homage to her grandfather Mehmed, who used to cook the dishes for her father....more