Meet the team
Our team has been selected not only for their cooking credentials but also for their ability to be inspiring teachers.
Tine Roche, Head Chef – Cambridge Cookery School was founded in 2008 by Tine Roche. Tine trained as a chef at the prestigious Leiths School of Food and Wine in London. Tine has developed a strong reputation locally and nationally as an engaging, warm and inspiring teacher, as well as a highly regarded chef who has catered for many prestigious events.
Tine Roche is originally from Scandinavia, but has lived in the UK for over 20 years. Her upbringing in rural Sweden has shaped her approach to food. Foraging for food was common practice and bottling, pickling, curing and air-drying were all ancient methods used to make the most of a glut of food. Tine has travelled extensively and is particularly inspired by the simplicity and seasonality of Italian cuisine. She is consequently very keen to teach seasonal cooking, as well as encouraging people to cook resourcefully and with minimum waste, something that has become very relevant today. She is a font of knowledge of food, not only through her upbringing in a family of great cooks but also through working for many years in food research relating to health and nutrition. She is passionate about teaching people that good home cooked food, need not be time-consuming or labourious, and that traditional skills like baking, can be integrated into our busy lives helping us live happier and healthier lives.
Ursula Ferrigno – Ursula is a prolific cookery writer and talented cook with a deep love of Southern Italian food. She is half-Italian and learned to cook as a child by watching her grandmother preparing traditional dishes. She returns regularly to Italy, to visit family and to teach cookery. She has cooked on many TV programmes and written many best selling cookery books. The most recent of her 20 cook books are La Dolce Vita – a book of heavenly desserts and sweets in 2005, and Ursula Ferrigno’s Italian Cookery Course, 2006. Having been brought up in an environment in which bread was present with every meal, Ursula is a passionate baker, featuring bread making in her many cookery demonstrations. With Italian breads her speciality, Ursula teaches both professionals and amateurs to make an array of national and regional breads from ciabatta and focaccia to volcanic stromboli.
Tracey Cullum: Tracey trained at Leiths School of Food and Wine and is already running classes alongside Tine. Tracey changed her career after many years in Recruitment. Her experience from the corporate world is an asset. Tracey is currently in charge of planning and recipe production for the forthcoming Certificate Course for youngsters. She has a particular passion for teaching children and youngsters, and her areas of speciality include cakes and pastry.
Justine Ash: Justine is a qualified Home Economist and Food Technologist, with over 25 years experience in product and recipe development. Justine’s passion and curiosity led her into freelance work over 16 years ago, and since then Justine has been focusing on innovation and product and recipe development for commercial clients. Justine’s real love is teaching and her previous work has included the Divertimenti cookery classes.
Lucy Robinson: Lucy began her career in the kitchen of the renowned Tresanton Hotel in Cornwall and from there she has worked all over the world cooking in the much acclaimed restaurant ‘Bistro Moncur’ in Sydney, traveling around Europe cooking for the Ferrari Formula 1 team, catering on film sets and working at a cookery school in Italy.
She enjoys giving an imaginative twist to her cooking be it speedy everyday meals or an elaborate dinner party to impress friends. Her pastry chef training shows off her creative talents with elegant and exquisitely presented dishes.